
'•■ . / V 



\/mv^r"' 



. . x . \ ive.oK* 



*«*» 




S^ijr 

















!?*rS!» 






i!IS?S 



^ 



'IB 






•M 



fe& 



hw <^t >-Vi 






I* 







££t 



HK« 




. , 








t#Bk \ 



t ilti 




#1 






m^ 



WEALTH ^WORKMEN; 



The Mission of Men and Money, 



HOWARD HENDERSON, D.D., LL.D. 




- C 



GEORGE P. HOUSTON, Publisher, 

105 LONGWORTH STREET. 

CINCINNATI, O. 






(JOPRYKJHTKI), 1891, 
KV 

Howard Hendehsok 



The Library 
of Congress 

washington 



TO 



C. C. McCABE, D. D., 
£be (Sreat jfielD dftarsbal of ZlftisBions, 

Whose inspiring voice, rallying thk militant Church to tub: 

front line, is ever advancing the standard. 

and whose "trumpet shale never 

( all retreat, " 

AND TO 

JACOB ROTHWEILER, D. D. , 
Gbe Sturo^ German anD Stalwart /Ifcetbootet, 

Type of the most consecrated of his countrymen, and in honok 

of the liberal lead of german methodism ix 

Benevolent Contributions. 

XTbis Book is BebicareD, 

BY 

The Author 



PREFACE. 



Being impressed that the books on the Christian 
method of getting and using money are abstract, or 
involved in style, I set myself to try to write some- 
thing that the people would ponder, and the rich 
would read. The mission of money and men is herein 
described. To judge the book by a critical, literary 
standard would be unjust to the Author, who has 
purposely used the proverbial style, and sometimes 
adopted privincial phrases. The book was written 
in the midst of onerous pastoral duties, and pressing 
and distracting family cares and afflictions. If it con- 
tributes to the consecration of money for man-helping, 
the Author will have earned his reward. 

Cincinnati, Ohio, 1891 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I. 

Divine Ownership and Human Stewardship. 

Original fee in God, 9— M^n stewards by occupation, 9 — Tithe 
in kind superseded by obligation in Christ, 9 — Trust, the 
measure of responsibility, 10 — Ability the measure of giv- 
ing, 10 — Talents include wealth and work, 11 — Mites and 
millions on the same footing, 11 — Miseries allowed that 
benevolence may be cultivated, 12 — Poverty not dishonor- 
ing, 12 — The scales of equity weigh merit, 13 — Labor a 
blessing, 13 — Rich must respect and help the poor, 14 — 
Deed-blessing, 14 — The curse of the love of money, and the 
good of the money of love, 15— The folly of the self-com- 
placency of the Rich Man of the parable, 16 — Selfish wealth 
merits its doom, 17 — Riches, rightly gotten and used, a 
means of grace, 17— The blessing of the poor at the Judg- 
ment, 18 — The relieved. Cnrist's proxies, 18. 

CHAPTER II. 
The Worship of the Golden Calf. 

Covetousness idolatry, 19 — Illustrated by Aaron's Golden Calf, 
19 — The Stock Exchange may be made an idolatrous temple, 
20 — Moral identity preserved by three Hebrews and Dan- 
iel, at Babylon, 21 — The infatuated Miser an idolator, 21 — 
Modern Ananiascs and Achans, 22 — The idolatry of riches 
in this age, appalling, 23— Ill-gotten wealth a despoiling of 
the poor, 23— Moloch worship now, 24 — Danger and Deg- ■ 
radation of the Gold hunter and Miser— a poem, 24 — The 
treachery and bribery caused by love of money, 25 — Shy- 
lock masquerading as Christian, 25 — Massacre of the 
Needle, 26— Robbery disguised by gifts to Hospitals and 
Colleges, 26. Heaven's Saving Bank, 26 — Marchioness of 
Salisbury and Dr. Parkman identified by jewels and gold- 
fillings, 27 — Juggernaut on Fifth Avenue and in Central 
Park, 28 — Ahab and his arrest by Nathan, 28— Cicero to 
Mareellu*, 28— A poetic antithesis, 28. (1) 



Z CONTEXTS. 

CHAPTER III. 
Motive Principle. 

The motive determining the moral quality of giving, 29— The 
Christ-motive, 32— The three heroes that brought David 
water from the well of Bethlehem, 32 — Abu Taher's mar- 
tyrs, 33 — Low ambition of Christians, 33 — The inspiring 
generosity of the Macedonian Churches, 34 — Paul making 
tents, 34 — Love of Christ tested by self-denying work, 34 — 
Mites and Shekels — widow and Pharisees, 34 — Self-denial 
of a Factory Girl, 35 — Consecration of John Howard, 35— 
Christ's test of discipleship for the rich young man, 36 — 
The Camel and the Needle, 36 — Trusting in and trusted 
with riches, differentiated, 37 — Consecration promoting 
Civilization, 38 — Jesus glad in our joys, 39 — Righteous 
uses of wealth in cultivating the beautiful and patronizing 
labor, 40 — Danger of luxury, 41 — Conservation of surplus 
materials, 42 — Loss by idleness, strikes and dissipation, 42 — 
Cheap work reprehensible, 42 — Presents to friends allow- 
able, 42— Ostentatious funerals reprobated, 43— Cemeteries 
at public cost, 45 — The anointing woman commended, 45, 
50, 55 — Judas-like fault-finders, 47 — Beautiful Church-archi- 
tecture approved, 47 — The recoil of Puritanism, 49— Sunday 
School rooms made attractive, 50 — The best should be 
given to God, 50, 77 — Dr. Hall and fine churches, 51 — 
Taste a sign of thrift, 54— Costly offerings of the Magi, 55— 
Christ in the poor, 56. 

CHAPTER IV. 
Devotional Giving. 

An Elder worthy of double honor — Henry K. Clark, 57 — Pay- 
ing and praying pairs, 57 — Unostentatious alms-giving, 57 — 
Dean Swift and atheism, 58 — Giving taken for granted, 58— 
Principles and Eules, 59— Giving, an act of worship, 59— 
Money-worship and the worship of money differentiated, 
60 — How to take a collection, 60 — Means and meanness, 61— 
"Bench 'em"— Bishop Waugh, 61— A dead Church— 
Laodecea, 63— Success not always proof of merit, 63, 67 — 



CONTENTS. o 

Work the children and women, 64 — and committees, 65— 
Cromwell at Dunbar, 65 — Miserly men unfit for steward.?, 
66— Virtues born of suffering, 67 — Best not excelled— illus- 
stration, 67— Charity enriching, 68 — Dr. McFerrin and the 
beggar, 68— Alms Memorial, 69 — Preacher an example — 
exhorted, 70 — Gordon abandoned, 71 — Cash-down prayers 
for heathen, 72 — Cribbing nubbins — Bishop Marvin, 72— 
Young brethren instructed, 72 — Pay-roll not a roster, 73 — 
Armor in Tower, 73 — Endowed Churches failures, 74 — A 
collection at sea, 75— Salvation if purchasable, 76 — Collec- 
tions historically, 76 — The altar sanctifying the gift, 79 — 
Luxury of giving, 79. 

CHAPTER V. 

The Gospel of Good Will. 

Fruits the test of Benevolence, 80— Nature on the plan of giv- 
ing—Bishop Thomson and Dr. Morrison, 80, 81 — Money 
latent force, 82— The Cross a magnet, 83— Electric bell in 
morgues, 83— Correlation and transmutation of forces, 83 — 
Giving a putting of self into powers, 83— Chnrch consti- 
tuted to convert the world, 84— All rank alike, 85 — Grace 
Missionary, 86 — The triple bond, 87 — Giving promotes 
prosperity, 90. 

CHAPTER VI. 

The Support of the Ministry. 

Ground of, 91 — Jews and tithes, 93 —All should share in, 94 — 
The rich paying, the poor praying, 95— No cost, no value, 
96 — Mites collected for good of givers, 97 — Reap as you sow, 
97 — Excuses: Ministry not to be lucrative, 97 — Has other 
resources ; lives better than I, 99 —Little to do, 100 — Must be 
kept humble, 101 — Pioneers poor, 102 — Are elsewhere paid 
no better, 102 — Not wanted, 103— Words to ministers, 103. 

CHAPTER VII. 

The Conquest of the World. 

Christianity a propaganda, 107 — Church thrives by Missions, 
108, 111 — Some to go, others to send, 110 — The gospel must 



4 CONTENTS. 

go — the Bible, the tract, 1 15 — Education, 116 — "Our Brother 
in Black," 117— A debt to freedmen, 120 — The South and 
negro, 120 — Africans a trust, 121 — North and the slave- 
trade, 121 — Perils, 123— Self-protection, 124— Drummond 
and hermit crab, 126 — Hermit monks, 126 — Mammoth 
Cave and sightless fish, 127— Hermit nations, 127 — Metho- 
dism spreading, 128— Ezekicl's vision, 128 — How to quell 
mutiny, 129— Pctral, 129— Timidity rebuked, 130— Antigo- 
nus, 130 — Cortez, Warwick and Henry of Navarre, 131 — 
Grant and his resolve, 132— Demosthenes' Phillipics, 132— 
"Hold the Fort," 133— "Storm the Fort," 134— Chapultepec, 
135— Fra Angelica, 135 — Prophecy History, 135 — The St. 
Nicholas chime-player, 135 — Lighting the World, 137 — 
Dynamics, 138— Deep-sea dredging, 139 — Age of benefac- 
tors, of rapid transit, 139 — Apocalyptic thunders, 140 — The 
Conquering Sign, 140 — Daybreak, 141. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

The Measure oe Duty. 

Ability the measure— a tithe the minimum, 142 — Wesley's 
prescript, 142— The tithe among Pagans, 143— and Jews, 
144— Gospel enlarging, 144 — Church Assessments, 145 — 
The Cheerful Giver, 147, 157— State charities, 148— Raph- 
ael's Transfiguration, 150 — Pagan inhumanity, 151 — Chris- 
tianity transforming and humanizing, 153 — Emancipated 
woman and exalted childhood, 154 — Negro resolutions, 157. 
Cross measure of debt, 158 — Dr. Wm. Arthur on "the duty 
of giving a stated part of income," 159 — Giving essential, 
171 — Faith-soaring, 161 — Saving for children, 163 — A quaint 
epitaph, 164 — Poor not exempt from giving, 165. 

CHAPTER IX. 
Systematic Benevolence. 

The Plan (weekly), the principle, ability, the blessing, 167— Dr. 
W. M". Taylor's view, 16S— Who must, and when to give, 
169 -Rusty hinges, 170 -The Spirit, 170— The Reward, 171— 
Means of grace, 171 — No dead-heads, 175— Crab and palm- 



CONTENTS. O 

trees, 175 — Impulsive compared with the systematic, 176 — 
Weekly, promotes church-going, 177 — and effective, 178 — 
Poor, deterred by banters, 179 — Examples, 179 — An assu- 
rance and particular principles, 180. 

CHAPTER X. 
Wrong Methods of Money Raising. 

Entertainments for, 182 — Business men object, 182 — Giving 
and buying back, 183 — Jealousies, 183 — Lottery, 183— Sells, 
theatres and pulpit advertising, 184 — Corrupt children, 
185 — The Mammon of unrighteousness, 186 — Two gospel 
methods, 186 — Conscience debilitated, 186 — Ministers 
showmen, 187 — Social entertainments commended, 187 — 
The one principle of gospel support, 187. 

CHAPTER XL 
Missions Pay. 

The meek inheriting, 188 — Apoll > transcended, 188 — The 
transfiguration of the earth, 189 — Markets opened, liberty 
promoted, Christian nations enriched, 190— Earl Cairns' 
auditing, 192— Testimony of Mr. Randall, Mr. Howland, 
and Sir Arthur Gordon, 193 — Fruits, 194 — Literature en- 
riched, 195— Missionaries as scientific reporters, 196— Dar- 
win's testimony, 197— Christian David, 198-202— Exhibit 
heroism, 199— Dr. Pierson's "Fingers of God," 203— The 
epitaph of Aeschylus, 203 — Japan coming, 206 — Peace pro- 
moted, 206 — College recruits, 206— Anglo-Saxon civilization 
debtor, 207 — Cost in starting, 210 — Cost of war, 211— Suez 
Canal, Keely Motor, Hurl-gate, 212 — Dredging the Mississ- 
ippi, 213 — Infant Church and Modern Missions, 213— Dr. 
John M. Reed figuring, 214 — Worth of emigrants, 215 — 
Gen. B. R. Co wen's Tenth Crusade, 215 — Mission miracles, 
217 — Bible translations, 217-219 — Scientists witnessing, 219. 
Stanley, 220 — Livingstone's tomb, 220 — Missions, the Pacific 
Coast and the Civil war, 220— Humanitarianism impotent, 
221— Christlieb, 222. 



6 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XII. 
Mission Methods and Motives. 

Open Doors, 224— An army of occupation, 224— Multiplied 
agencies, 228— Moravian zeal, 229— and emulated, 232— 
Ideals and exemplars, 232 — Bishop Hannington and the 
Uganda martyrs, 233, 237 — Sacrificial inspirations, 235 — 
Plato and Paul, 236 — Africa redeemed, monumental, 237. 
Majesty of the redemptive scheme, 238- Weighted wings, 239. 

CHAPTER XIII. 
Religious Limits of Accumulation. 

Ague's Trayer, 240 — Ten talents buried, 241 — Making money 
for God, 242 — May business be given up, 242 — Danger and 
guilt of apostasy, 242 — Retiring ministers, 243 — Health- 
breaking haste and snares, 245 — Defeating habits, 246. 
Diary of suicide and mark-missing, 247 — The Christ-devo- 
ted successful business man blessed, 248— Religion not a 
refuge, 249 — Selfish aggrandizement sinful, 250 — Vast for- 
tunes reprobated, 250 — Risk and responsibility for, 251 — 
Despairing masses, breed anarchy 253— March of Mo- 
nopoly, 252 — Fraud the malaria of business, 254 — Credit 
abused, 254 — Preferring creditors, 256 — Gain of Godliness, 
256 — Safe-guard of employment, 257 — Health promoted by 
labor, 258 — Inherited wealth the bane of children, 258 — 
Riches rationally used and perverted by the Christless, 
259 — "The unearned increment," 260 — Money-making skill, 
a divine gift, 261— Giving while getting, 262— Eventide light, 
267 — Indiscriminate Charity, 267 — Business a divine trust, 
268. 

CHAPTER XIV. 

The Cry and Call. 

The curse of tenements, 271 — The slaughter of the Innocents, 
271— Land Monopoly, 272— The Augean stable, 273— The 
British Briareus, 273 — Children congenitally cursed, 273— 
Deteriorating environment, 274 — Rescue the perishing, 274. 
Prevention and Suppression, 275 — Burden of Dumah, 



CONTENTS. 7 

276 — The moan from the slums, 270— The Jukes, 276— Pau- 
per Emigration, 277 — Romanism Entrenching, 277 — The 
debauched vote, 278— The Black Cloud over the South, 27 3 
Briberv of legislatures, of juries; defalcation and "Boodle- 
ism," 278— The Niobe of the Nations, 279— Remedies, 279. 
Morning, 280— The cry of the Eagle, 280— Cities, "storm 
centers," 280 — The Augurs prophesying, 283 — Dynamite 
menacing, 283 — Antiseptics and brooms called for, 284 
The Gospel as a Reformer, 285 — Brotherhood, Condescen- 
sion and patronage not, 285 — Children unto Abraham from 
stones — pardoned Magdalenes and thieves, 286 — The Mas- 
ter's example, 286 — The banner of Hope — Dr. Storrs, 287. 
The Macedonian call, 287 — God marching on, 288 — The 
five thousand students waiting on miserly Money, 289. 
Croninshield's satire, 289 — The game started; let loose the 
hounds, 289. 

CHAPTER XV. 
The Answer of Conscience. 

Musts and must nots, 290 — Hospitality refused Christ, 293 — 
Poem — Montgomery, 294 — A word to women, 297 — Work 
of women, 298 — Books to read, 299. 

CHAPTER XVI. 
Heart and Hand Help. 

Blessed in the deed, 300 — Retrospective pleasures, 301 — A 
Golden Autumn, 302— Bculah land, 303— Sympathy wel- 
comed, 304— Fry, Nightingale, and the Purest Pearl, 304— 
"Prayers full," 305 — Indiscriminate Charity, 306 — An army 
of tramps, 306— Distrust of City Charities, 307— "Little Sis- 
ters of the Poor," 307— Gregory, the Great, 308— The 400— 
McAllister and Most, 309— Quiz, the Sphinx, 309— City 
riots, 309— The Huntingtons, 310— Perils, 310— Charity 
f tudents, 310 — Men compared to turtles and cats, 310 — 
Visiting committees, 311 — Expulsive power of a new affec- 
tion, 312— Tact, 312— Centers of light, 313— After the Eclipse 
313 — Second Advent pessimism, 313 — World brightening 



8 CONTENTS. 

314 — Pearl-closed wounds, 314 — Ostentation and lieing, 315. 
Apoplexy and Paralysis parked with God's Artillery, 315. 
The day of need coming, 316. 

CHAPTER XVII. 
The Morning Cometh. 

The Age we live in, 318 — The Sphinx — Argus — The Laocoon, 
319— Art of printing, 319— Elements of progress, 320-323. 
Man's ^onquest and sovereignty, 323 — America an asy- 
lum, 324 — Survival of the fittest, 325 — Mormons, Indians, 
Chinese, reformed, exterminated or assasinated, 325 — Hope 
restored, 326 — God's lever and fulcrum, 327 — Clearing 
storms, 328 — War ended, 329 — Optimism of Isaiah and 
John, 330. 

CHAPTER XVIII. 
The Free-Seat Church. 

All equal in church, 333 — Mites and millions on a par, 334. 
Power of a pew-renter, 334 — A pastor's rebuke, 335 — St. 
James, 335 — Cathedrals and Methodist Churches free, 337. 
Church support, 338 — Padded plates, 340 — Bright churches 
and services for poor, 341 — Free churches first step in reach- 
ing the masses, 343 — Seats reserved where no money con- 
dition, 344 — Firing at long range, 345 — Wiser Catholics, 345. 

CHAPTER XIX. 
Precious Promises. 

Moses and reward — Crawling on Ice, 346 — Premiums to sin — 
Thrift of Righteousness, 347 — The men who succeed — Liv- 
ing Skeletons — Dead Sea and Nile men, 348— The success- 
ful merchant, 349— The living church, aggressive, 349. 
Hard-cash prayer*, 350 — Abiding principles based on 
Divine precepts and promises, 351 — Sure foundations, 351. 



WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

CHAPTER I. 
DIVINE OWNERSHIP AND HUMAN STEWARDSHIP. 

The original fief by which men hold property is 
in God. "The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness 
thereof." Men are stewards, and "occupy" until 
the Lord comes to require an account. Man for- 
feited Eden by transgression, and was expelled to a 
thorn-cursed earth, and bidden to win back his primal 
heritage by industry and virtue. To remind him of 
his stewardship, he was required to pay to his Lord's 
cause one-tenth of all his earnings. As his conquest 
of the world advanced, his responsibility increased. 
As Providence blessed, the Divine command expand- 
ed, and ability became the measure of obligation. 
Redeemed, his debt of love found its standard of 
value Christ's blood. The tithe in kind, the sacrifi- 
cial offering were no longer required by the demand 
of the altar, or the necessities of the Levite ; but, the 
Cross made a demand as wide as the necessities of 
the race. As the sacrifice of Christ is of inestimable 
value, and the meter of man's duty, all limits, save 
ability, were removed. 

God is the proprietor of the earth. Men are his 
tenants at will, and must give an account as to how 

(9) 



10 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

they have discharged their trust. To whom little is 
given only little will be required — it will be required. 
The parable of the talents distributes the degrees of 
trust, but the moral responsibility is the same in the 
ten, five and one talent case. It was the man who 
buried his one talent who was cast ' 'into outer dark- 
ness. " Mechanic and merchant, laborer and million- 
aire, all are alike under one law of moral responsibil- 
ity as to the use made of that which Providence allots 
to each. The minister is not more bound to preach 
and the missionary to go, with the Gospel message 
abroad, than the craftsman in his shop, the farmer in 
his field, the tradesman in his store, the laborer under 
his burden is to discharge his duty faithfully. Wealth 
is fearfully derelict in giving of its abundance, but 
none the less are the poor in giving of their poverty. 
Nothing is too small to give, if it be required. A with- 
held penny carries with the deed as much moral 
weight as the withholding of a pound. Ananias migh. 
just as well have given nothing as to have fraudulently 
held back a part. Divine service must be with the 
whole heart. To "offend one of these little ones" is 
to incur heavy guilt. The Gospel commands Christ- 
ians to be ' 'lights of the world, " to love their enemies, 
to "preach the Gospel to every creature." What- 
ever is the cost of compassing these commands is to 
be incurred, within the limits of ability. No ratio is 
given, whether a tenth or a half of our revenue. 
W T ealth is a Divine trust and is ability to do good, as 
opportunity will permit. It embraces the idea of 
capacity for work and disposition to industry. Only 



DIVINE OWNERSHIP AND HUMAN STEWARDSHIP. 11 

disability for labor, and to get, or destitution 
of means, exempt from giving. St. Paul laid 
it down as the obligation of a converted thief 
■ ' to labor, working with his hands, that he may- 
have to give to him that needeth." (Eph. iv, 28.) 
As we have ability, as God prospereth us, as a duty 
and as a means of grace, we are to give willingly, 
cheerfully, co-operatively. The benevolent disposi- 
tion is made, by St. John, the touch-stone of a God- 
loving heart. " But whoso hath this world's good, 
and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his 
bowels of compassion, how dwelleth the love of God 
in him?" (I John iii, 17.) The holding of the means 
to help, carries with it the obligation of contributing 
to the relief of necessity. The ability to give is of 
God. "The riches of our liberality" may be meas- 
ured by a mite or millions. One is as acceptable to 
God as the other, if it only be according to the ability 
we have. God is the giver of all good, and in giving 
we but return to him his own. He gives fertility to 
the earth, the germ to the seed, sends the earlier and 
the latter rain, rotates the seasons, and the day and 
the night, gives to man intelligence, skill and strength. 
No matter who plants or waters, God gives the in- 
crease. It is, therefore, basal to Christian benevo- 
lence that we reverence the Father of Lights from 
whom cometh every good and perfect gift, and with 
whose mercy there is no variableness nor shadow of 
turning ; that we faithfully accredit his goodness 
daily, and confess our utter dependence upon him for 
ali the mercies of Life. He is the "Father of our 



12 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

mercies." We should beseech His blessing upon all 
our enterprises and toils, with a steadfast purpose to 
employ the surplus fruit thereof as He hath prescribed. 
We are to look on wealth, therefore, as a divine 
endowment to enable us to cultivate the best graces 
in ourselves by ministering to the* wants of others. 
The ''Lord makethrich." (I Sam. ii, 7.) But not to 
the end of our self-gratification. God never designed 
furnishing us with the means of hurting or destroy- 
ing ourselves. He permits the miseries of others 
that the virtue of benevolence, so elevating to char- 
acter, so comforting to those who practice it, may 
have subjects for its exercise. "Ye have the poor 
always with you ; " and instead of being dishonored by 
their poverty, they are made the representatives of 
Christ, so that service to them is ministration unto 
Him. That the multitude of poor might not feel 
humiliation at poverty, Christ came as a poor man, 
having not a roof to shelter his head, or money to 
pay his taxes. He made his home with the lowly, 
and chose his disciples from the weak and despised. 
He died between two outlaws and was buried at the 
hand of charity. All along his pathway, from the 
cradle to the cross, friendship contributed to his 
daily wants, and on one occasion grateful love anointed 
his body with costly ointment. If poverty in itself 
were a brand of dishonor, then it was placed on Jesus, 
the Carpenter's son, as much as on the most abject of 
earth. Jesus at his birth, in the manger, in fellow- 
ship with the kine, touched the bottom of pauper 
circumstances, that no garret lodger beneath smoked 



DIVINE OWNERSHIP AND HUMAN STEWARDSHIP. 13- 

rafters and a dripping roof, that no wasted woman 
tossing on a pallet of straw, might ever have it to say 
that Jesus was not as poor as they. To be the univer- 
sal sympathizer and heart-helper he must and did get 
beneath the suffering masses, honoring their pov- 
erty by suffering it himself. Let no man,having done 
his best to get ahead, having chosen to live honestly 
poor rather than improve his circumstances by fraud 
or overreaching, feel ashamed of his poverty. Doing 
his duty according to the ability given, he will stand 
the peer of millionaires when God weighs the merits 
of men in the scales of infinite equity. 

God has not peopled the world with the rich that 
they may feed and fatten upon his free bounty. 
Rather has he filled the world with the poor who- 
must work for their daily bread. As a good Provi- 
dence designs the best for his creatures, the necessity 
of toil must be for the benefit of men. Observation 
proves to us that the field of labor is the sphere of 
progress, the grand theatre of human elevation. 
Would it be well for all men to be so conditioned 
that there would be no need for them to labor? Has 
not the world been brought to its present estate, and 
will it not be re-Edenized through the ministration 
of human labor? Is not idleness, now, the prolific 
parent of many of the ills that afflict society? 
Nothing is so friendly to virtue as employment. The 
indolent poor and the idle rich are the extremes of 
society in which dissipation drains existence and vice 
riots and revels to destroy. 



14 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

The obligation rests on the rich to respect the vir- 
tuous poor and to help the worthy needy from their 
abundance. "Charge them that are rich in this 
world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in un- 
certain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us 
richly all things to enjoy ; that they do good, that they 
be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to 
communicate; laying up in store for themselves a 
good foundation against the time to come, that they 
may lay hold on eternal life. " (I Tim-, vi, 17-19.) To 
be "rich in good works" is better than bonds and 
gold. How inexpressibly gratifying to the heart of 
Job must have been "the blessing of him that was 
ready to perish," and the song of the widow relieved 
by his bounty! (Jobxxix, 13.) The alms of Cornelius, 
alike with the incense of prayer, ascended as a me- 
morial before God. There is such a thing as being 
"blessed in the deed" — of proving a principle by an 
act. ' 'Whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, 
and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful 
hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be 
blessed in his deed." (Jas. i, 25.) Deed-blessing is 
faith-ratification. Faith and works are hemispheres 
of the globe of religion, the equator of which is love. 

Generous action, the product of good-will, grows 
the herb heart-ease in the garden of the soul. All 
noble life is the blossoming of love. 

"We live in deeds, not years; in thoughts, not breaths; 

In feelings, not in figures on a dial. 
We should count time by heart-throbs. He most lives, 

Who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best." 

(Bailey- Festus.) 



DIVINE OWNERSHIP AND HUMAN STEWARDSHIP. 15 

Every good deed is treasure laid up in heaven. 
All money expended in charity is an eternal invest- 
ment. It yields large dividends in time and eternity. 
What is given is saved ; what is saved is lost. Death" 
parts a man from his earthly fortune, and, then, what 
he is worth is what he has sent before to Heaven by 
performing deeds of love. By benevolence "he has 
laid up in store" where calamity can never overtake 
the treasure. The epitaph carved on the tomb of a 
generous giver was, "Here rests Etella, who trans- 
ported a great fortune to Heaven in acts of charity; 
and has gone there to enjoy it forever." 

When Christ (Matt, vi, 19-21) enjoined the laying 
up of treasure in heaven rather than on earth, He did 
not prohibit a wise forecast of the future — an honest 
accumulation of property ; for, the right use of money 
can be made vastly instrumental in making a man 
"rich toward God" and in "good works." If it be 
hard for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God 
it is only because of the deceitfulness of riches. ' 'They 
that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into 
many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in 
destruction and perdition. For the love of money is 
the root of all evil." (I Tim. vi, 9-10) But the 
money of love is the root of much good. It is bread 
to the hungry, raiment to the naked, shelter to the 
homeless, light to the blind, limbs to the lame, medi- 
cine to the sick, education to the ignorant, rest to the 
weary, hope to the despairing. It tunnels the moun- 
tains, levels up the plains, threads the valleys with 
pathways of iron, strings the telegraphic harp, bridges 



16 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

the rivers and ferries the seas. It is the overweening 
lust for money that is the corrupting root. The rich 
man of the parable retired out of view the Author of 
his good, and contemplated only the secondary agen- 
cies of nature, and his own shrewdness and strength. 
He could buy all the delignts he sensuously craved. 
He could command the viands of various climes to 
crown his board, the costly fabrics of oriental looms 
to clothe his body, the sparkling wines to fill his 
decanters. He could bring around him scented cour- 
tiers, fulsome flatterers, praetorian guards. He could 
purchase place and power. He felt the vigor of life 
and counted on a long lease of years. His scheme of 
life was selfish and sensuous. God was not in all his 
thoughts. "Eat, drink and be merry" was his motto. 
Eternity was not in his view. Life, as the opportu- 
nity for usefulness, for co-working with God, for 
helping humanity, was not apprehended. He was 
self-centered and self-contained. He was a solitary 
and selfish unit of being, a godless, graceless animal. 
"So is he that layeth up treasure for himself and is 
not rich toward God." Upon the self-complacent 
sensuality of such a rich man how, like a knell of 
doom, would toll the startling sentence — "Thou fool, 
this night thy soul shall be required of thee." His 
mind would run rapidly in review over his fortune and 
bankrupted life, while the voice of retribution would 
ring in his ear the answerless question, "Then whose 
shall those things be, which thou hast provided ? " No 
pocket in the shroud, no treasure box in the grave. 
Without anything to his credit in the bank of Heaven, 



DIVINE OWNERSHIP AND HUMAN STEWARDSHIP. 17 

without the ability to borrow, with no chance to 
retrieve what he has forfeited, baffled in his plans, 
defeated in his desires, there remaineth nothing "but 
a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery 
indignation." Such a man merits his doom. Loving 
money for its power to yield self-gratification, regard- 
less of the claims of God on the bounty He bestows, 
callous to the cries of human suffering, indifferent to 
the elevation of his race — he bargains for his good in 
his life-time, and gets the wages of sin. Why should 
such a one expect to live in the memories of his fel- 
low-men, or hope to share in the mercies of God, 
whose tender bounty he hath abused? "Be not 
deceived : neither idolaters . . . nor covetous] nor extor- 
tioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God." (I Cor. 
vi, 9-10.) It is hard for such a rich man to enter the 
Kingdom of God. He has no fitness "for an inheri- 
tance with the saints in life." Luring as riches are 
when covetously desired, yet, when honestly obtained 
and rightly used, they can be made a means of grace. 
A rich man consecrated to God — soul, body and 
money — can brighten and bless while in this world 
and at death receive an "abundant entrance" into 
the kingdom of glory. If he is not "high-minded" 
— supercilious to the poor and vain of his wealth ; if he 
does not trust in "uncertain riches," but in the living 
God ; if he does good to the souls and bodies of men 
as he has opportunity, "is rich in good works, ready 
to distribute, willing to communicate," then, as the 
promised reward of such a use of his wealth, he ' 'lays 



18 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

up in store for himself a good foundation against the 
time to come, and lays hold on eternal life." 

Let every rich man listen to the Apostolic ' 'charge;'' 
and if he would find the gates of glory wide open 
when he dies, regard the means entrusted to him, 
when properly used, as an agency through which he can 
make his ' 'calling and election sure." 

If at the judgment day the poor of earth shall rise 
up as his witnesses and pronounce blessings on his 
name, if the widows and orphans he has visited in 
their afflictions shall testify of his mercy, if souls 
brought to Gospel light by the money he gave to 
Missions shall come to jewel his ' 'crown of rejoicing," 
he need not fear the Judge. The relieved were His 
proxies. "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of 
the least of these, ye have done it unto me." What 
a tide of glory will roll to ravish the soul when the 
Master shall say to his faithful steward — "Well done !" 



I 



THE WORSHIP OF THE GOLDEN CALF. 19 



CHAPTER II. 
THE WORSHIP OF THE GOLDEN CALF. 

The Bible teaches that covetousness is idolatry and 
that the sordid love of money is variant with the love 
of God. "Ye cannot serve God and Mammon." 
Mammon service is God-hating, as passions so oppo- 
site cannot dwell in the same heart. 

A money-loving heart cannot be a God-loving 
heart. All evil is rooted in a love of money — for, 
unless a man wants wealth with which to do good he 
desires it for the gratification of his own wicked lusts, 
or to minister to his own vanity and ambition. 

The idolatry of the Golden Calf will help to bring 
before us the crime and condemnation of covetous- 
ness. Moses being delayed in the Mount the people 
conjectured that he had deserted them, and proposed 
that Aaron should make Gods to go before them. 
From the golden ear-rings in the ears of the people, 
Aaron made a molten calf, and the people said, 
4 'These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up 
out of the land of Egypt." And when Aaron saw it 
he built an altar before it, on which the people made 
offerings. The wrath of God was kindled. Moses 
wasbidden to return, and to leave the Lord alone to 
consume a "stiff-necked people." Moses interceded 
in their behalf, and ' 'the Lord repented of the evil 



20 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

which He thought to do unto his people." But 
when Moses saw the idolatry of Israel, his own anger 
waxed hot, and in his indignant rage he threw down 
the "two tables of testimony," God's granite edition 
of the law, given to him on the Mount, and broke 
them beneath Sinai. But the breaking of the tables 
was not the breaking of the law, written on them 
with a finger of fire, and burned in by lightning. The 
ten "Thou shalt nots" had as much force after the 
tablets were broken as before, just as the sacred roll 
cut to pieces and cast into the fire by Jehoiakim, did 
not destroy the truth it contained. Men who seek to 
destroy the Bible would not escape responsibility to 
the law and Gospel it contains, if they succeed, any 
more than an ostrich eludes its pursuers by sticking 
its head in the sand. The danger is just as real as if 
seen. God renewed the tables; Jeremiah restored 
the sacred roll. Moses smelted the Golden Calf and 
ground it into powder, and sowed the water with its 
ashes, but did not by this iconoclasm destroy the 
spirit of idolatry. Long after an image is destroyed, 
the idolatry of the heart may continue; and is at-one 
with the worship of the Golden Calf, whether it be 
Baal, Moloch or Mammon. A stock exchange may 
be an idolatrous temple as well as that of Diana at 
Ephesus, or that of Dagon at Philistia, or the Mosque 
at Mecca. The worship of gold and the gold-monger, 
in our day, may be as offensive to God as that of 
Aaron's Golden Calf, made of ill-gotten spoils, wealth 
filched by cunning arts, skillful deals, overreaching in 
trade, corners in stocks and grains. Railroad Kings, 



THE WORSHIP OF THE GOLDEN CALF. 21 

Merchant princes, Landlords, Bonanza Nabobs, may, 
in spirit, be golden calves, constructed of stolen gold, 
and the multitudes who kneel at the shrines of mil- 
lionaires, courting favor — "the thrift that follows 
fawning" — as much idolaters (of money) as those who 
bended the supple knee to the image apostate Aaron 
set up in sight of the smoke, and within hearing of 
the thunders of Sinai. How few would elect with 
Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego, to go into the 
fiery furnace, rather than bow down to the golden 
image Nebuchadnezzar set up for worship on the plains 
of Dura ! It requires far less courage to be a saint in 
Jerusalem than it does to be a Daniel in Babylon. It 
is easier to be a lion at court than to be cast into the 
lion's den. With many, in our times, Gold is looked 
on as an end, rather than as a means to a noble aim. 
"Get all you can, and keep all you get" is regarded 
as a wise maxim and becomes a gloss of avarice, con- 
cealing covetousness, as gilding does rotten wood, or 
putty bungling work. The Devil's horn-book is no 
better because it is gilt-edged. Satan is no less 
Satan when transformed into an Angel of Light. 
The livery of Heaven may disguise the service of the 
Devil, but does not essentially change its debasing 
nature. Such is the illusive power of avarice 
that it blinds the miser to his highest concerns, and 
the infatuated idolater, "throws up his interest in 
both worlds, first starved in this and then damned in 
that to come. " Making "haste to be rich" is dwarfing 
myriads of souls, and minifying their every sensibility 
of generosity. Transport the idolater of gold to 



22 



WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 



Heaven and he would immediately begin to strip the 
streets of the New Jerusalem of their golden boulders. 
God shows his contempt for the precious metal by 
putting it under the feet of the saints and angels. 
If, as in the garden of the Hesperides, golden apples 
grew upon trees, and religion nestled beneath the 
roots, how many would climb for the precious fruit, 
rather than dig for the hidden treasure ! 

While the love of money is the root of all evil, 
the money of love is the fruit of the tree of life. It 
is fabled that the touch of Midas turned everything 
into gold, but it is a fact that the touch of gold 
transforms some men into anything. If God would 
re-institute the retribution that fell on Ananias and 
Sapphira, what a panic it would create "on change; " 
how many first-class funerals would be in order! 
The wedge of gold secreted by Achan brought dis- 
aster on the Israelites at Ai ; and his love of ' 'the 
accursed thing" stolen from the spoils, brought a 
death of dishonor upon the thief and his family, his 
flocks and herds, and to their ashes a monument of 
dishonor; and so a church often suffers because it 
tolerates a covetous dissembler, whose money was ac- 
quired by fraud, or an iniquitous traffic. We cannot 
prosper on the Mammon of unrighteousness — grind 
Gospel grist with the Devil's water. Clean money is 
as essential as clean hearts. 

If the stream of Salvation, as the fabled waters of 
Pactolus, flowed over golden sands, how many would 
plunge in, who now stand shivering and hesitating 
on its banks ! 



THE WORSHIP OF THE GOLDEN CALF. 23 

Nothing in our age is so appalling as the idolatry 
of riches. Wealth means weal, but with many it is 
wretchedness. It turns the heart, meant "for a 
house of prayer, " into a ' ' den of thieves. " A covet- 
ousness-tolerating church is as obnoxious to God 
as Israel's camp polluted by Achan's spoil-secret- 
ing tent. It sets up a golden image where a sacred 
altar ought to stand. If we may estimate the hideous- 
ness of an idol by the number of its unhappy victims, 
where in all Pagandom, from the degrading fetish of 
the stupid negro to the crushing car of the Jugger- 
naut, and the voracious hunger of the Cretan Mino- 
taur, is there a God, or shrine so fearful, so cruel in 
its demand for sacrifice, as our American one of 
money? What a cry for vengeance goes up from 
the bloody altar into the ' ' ears of the Lord God ot 
Sabaoth" ! For the making of a single millionaire 
we make a thousand paupers whose life is a chronic 
woe. No man can grow so inordinately rich except 
by a despoiling of the wages of a multitude of 
laborers. To earn a fortune of $200,000,000 would 
require that the owner thereof should have lived from 
Adam until now and received for his work more than 
$100. per working day. The most skilled engineer — 
a Stephenson, a Roebling, could not command such 
a price for a lifetime of 6,000 years. The dismal 
life-sepulchres of poverty — the crowded and filthy 
tenements of oppressed labor, lie under the shadow 
of the palaces of the rich, the one as wretched and 
polluted as the other is magnificent and clean. And 
these lordly mansions of the affluent are built by 



24 WEALTH AND V/ORKMEN. 

money wrested from the necessities of the poor, and 
their sculptured stories cemented with mortar mixed 
with the sweat of labor and bonded with its blood. 
And shall Dives, linen-clothed and sumptuously-faring, 
be content to shake from his damask cloth the crumbs 
from his table into the ragged lap of Lazarus, prostrate 
and suppliant, at the gate of his palace ? How many 
altars there are of Moloch worship where selfish wealth 
is priest, and toiling men are the bloody sacrifices ! 

"Gold many hunted, sweat and bled for gold; 

Waked all the night and labored all the day. 

And what was this allurement, dost thou ask? 

A dust dug from the bowels of the earth, 

Which, being cast into the fire, came out 

A shining thing that fools admired, and called 

A God; and in devout and humble plight 

Before it kneeled, the greater to the less; 

And on its altar sacrificed ease, peace, 

Truth, faith, integrity, good conscience, friends, 

Love, charity, benevolence, and all 

The sweet and tender sympathies of life; 

And to complete the horrid murderous rite, 

And signalize their folly, offered up 

Their souls and an eternity of bliss, 

To gain them— what? An hour of dreaming joy, 

A feverish hour that hastened to be done, 

And ended in the bitterness of woe. 

But there was one in folly farther gone : 

The miser, who, with dust inanimate, 

Held wedded intercourse. Ill-guided wretch!" 

* * * '• Of all God made upright. 

And in their nostrils breathed a living soul, 
Most fallen, most prone, most earthly, most debased; 
Of all that sold Eternity for Time, 
None bargained on so easy terms with Death. 
Illustrious fool! Nay, most inhuman wretch! 
He sat amid his bags, and with a look 
Which hell might be ashamed of, drove the poor 
Away unalmsed, and midst abundance died, 
Sorest of evils! died of utter want." (l'om,oK.) 



THE WORSHIP OF THE GOLDEN CALF. 25 

What man feasting and fattening on the product of 
the wages of ill-requited toilsmen, and wan and 
wasted seamstresses, and haggard and hungry factory 
boys and girls, can rest easy, while hardening the lot 
of those his benevolence might help ? Is the soul so 
dead and the ear so deaf as not to hear the anathema 
daily answering the cry of human want and woe from 
a throne of retributive justice? For gold, Judas sold 
his Lord, and Arnold would have strangled the infant 
Hercules of Liberty in its cradle ; for gold, Bacon 
stained the ermine of justice and thus, though the 
greatest, became the meanest of mankind; for gold, 
Christian England debauched China with opium, and 
entailed the curse of slavery on America ; for gold, 
America rendered more savage the Indians, seeks to 
debauch Africa, and licenses a traffic that throws a 
shadow on every heart and hearthstone of the land we 
love ; for gold, men sacrifice virtue and veneration to 
reverence the vices that grind them into the dust of 
misery. 

"Gold is a living god and rules in scorn 
All earthly things but virtue." 

Shylock, exacting his pound of flesh, because, by 
error, right is not ''nominated i:i the bond," is not 
always a Jew, but often wears a Christian name. 
Churches, even, have been known to draw unholy 
revenues from a drunken and licentious tenantry with 
which to build chapels and sustain ostentatious chari- 
ties. Gold demands usury and rack-rent cf helpless 
paupers and riots in luxury on the proceeds of heart- 
less oppression. For gold, men grind the faces of 



iib WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

toilsmen, and with it rifle chastity of ' ' the proudest 
jewel woman wears throughout her little day. " What 
wide difference between the song of the shirt and the 
song of the Cocoon ! The pitiless needle kills more 
women than the needle-gun does men. The man who 
pinches his employes and with the gains reaped from 
narrow wages builds hospitals and endows colleges, 
is, simply, trying to condone for robbery, and is 
building a monument of shame. Justice leads gener- 
osity. There is a greater charge than that of the 
light brigade at Balakjava : i ' Charge them that are 
rich in this world, that they be not high-minded, nor 
trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God who 
giveth us richly all things to enjoy ; that they do 
good, that they be rich in good works, ready to dis- 
tribute, willing to communicate ; laying up in store 
for themselves a good foundation against the time to 
come, that they may lay hold on eternal life." 

Only the empty-handed can cling to the cross. 
Money, charitably distributed, is money deposited in 
Heaven's Savings Bank. Such deposits are in 
interest-paying Savings Banks, "good foundations" 
of celestial wealth. "Laying up in store against the 
time to come," is making God our banker. His 
vaults are fire-proof and will keep cool when the 
judgment fires smelt the worlds to ashes. Blessed is 
the man that has large balances on the Ledger-book 
of charity. The cry of defrauded laborers against 
avarice withholding the reapers' wages, (ill-requited 
toil) will be fearful testimony in the ears of the Lord 



THE WORSHIP OF THE GOLDEN CALF. 27 

God of Sabaoth, long after penal fires have ashed the 
barns and bins of avarice. 

When the Marchioness of Salisbury perished in 
the flames, her charred remains were recognized by 
the jewels gathered from the ashes. When God 
comes to make up his jewels, he will know his own 
by the virtues that decorated their character. 

When Dr. Parkman was murdered by Prof. Web- 
ster, the recovered teeth from the cesspool in which 
the assassin-chemist had emptied his retorts and 
crucibles, were recognized by the victim's dentist. 
The remains of many a murdered opportunity will 
be known by the gold judgment fires could not 
smelt. When heart and flesh shall fail, gold will be a 
swift witness against the guilty. "Go to now, ye 
rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall 
come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and 
your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver 
is cankered ; and the rust of them shall be a witness 
against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. 
Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days." 
(Jas. v: i, 2, 3.) 

The selfish man is as gross an idolater as the wor- 
shippers of Aaron's golden calf. His God is Gold. 
Mammon is his shrine and sacrament. He "lays up 
treasure for himself," and "is not rich toward God." 
He barters away his eternal heritage for a temporal 
mess of pottage. He pauperizes his eternity. Like 
Nessus he wears a poisoned shirt. "He will be rich" 
in spite of God. He builds up a large business. The 
King of Dahomy built a temple of skulls, and Judas' 



28 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

bribe-money bought a blood-field. The postdiluvians 
built a Babel, but it was blasted before it reached the 
sky. The selfist rides in a chariot ; but it is spoked 
with bones, and blood flies from the revolving strakes. 
It is Juggernaut rolling on Fifth Avenue, or along 
the gravelled roads of Central Park. He is a success. 
So was Ahab when he robbed Naboth of his vine- 
yard. Ahab was found of the prophet, and despair- 
ingly exclaimed: "Hast thou found me, O, mine 
enemy!" Mark, how swift and straight the bolt 
flies to its mark — " I have found thee !" The aveng- 
ing Nemesis is ever on the track of fugitive guilt. 
Said Cicero to the banished Marcellus, ' 'Wherever you 
are remember you are equally in the power of the con- 
queror. " And Gibbon declares ' ' the empire filled the 
earth, and made it a prison for the. foes of Caesar." 
God is everywhere^ The wings of the morning can 
not waft the culprit beyond his arrest and doom. 

Covetousness is not only narrowing and dwarfing 
to the individual, burdening him with anxiety, and 
harrassing him with fears, but ' ' it inflicts evil on 
society by the bad example with which it encourages 
men to regard money as the chief good and to make 
the golden calf an object of worship ; and also by de- 
priving Society of the benefits which it has a right to 
expect from its members." (Rev. Dr. J. Few Smith.) 

" That man may last, but never lives. 
Who much receives but nothing gives, 
Whom none can love, whom none can thank, 
Creation's blot, Creation's blank. 

But he who marks from clay to clay 

In generous acts his radiant way, 

Treads the same path the Saviour trod. 

The path to glory and to God. (THOMAS Tai.i.i-. 



MOTIVE PRINCIPLE. 29 



CHAPTER III. 

MOTIVE PRINCIPLE. 

In giving, every thing depends upon the motive. 
Money given from wrong motives may indeed benefit 
the world, but never the donor. To give to be seen 
of men, to advertise business, to rival others — in a 
word, for self-glory, may be to do good but not to get 
good. It is honorable to act from a sense of justice, 
and this is conformity to law ; but it honors Christ to 
give to his cause from love for Him. "The love of 
Christ constraineth us" is the highest formula of ob- 
ligation — the noblest incentive to consecrated service. 
We should strive to act from the highest motives. A 
man of the world may recognize his just obligations 
to every servant of society. He may pay his pastor 
as his police officer. The one means conservative in- 
fluence in the protection of his property, and the 
security of his life, as the other is the guardian of 
both. The motive from self-interest is not dishonoring. 
He may pay his minister because he entertains him. 
Many of the themes of the pulpit appeal to the 
intellectual nature of men. The great Gospel 
principle is to do everything through the love that 
gratitude to Christ, for redeeming us, inspires. Under 
the inspiration of love to Jesus many self-sacrificing 
spirits have found their highest joy in the suffering of 



dU WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

privation and pain, that they may thereby testify a 
devotion that exemption from affliction, and tranquil 
ease could not display, or make conscious to them- 
selves. In perils by land and sea, and among false 
brethren, beasts at Ephesus, and confronted by batal- 
lions of devils, valiant warriors of the cross have 
sung a battle hymn : 

" O, 'tis not in grief to harm me 
While thy love is left to me ; 
O, 'twere not in joy to charm me 
Were that joy unmixed with thee? 
Think what spirit dwells within thee ; 
What a Father's smile is thine ; 
What a Savior died to win thee ; 
Child of Heaven canst thou repine ?" 

When done for Christ, the most inferior act is mag- 
nified, the humblest thing is glorified. 

The spiritual alchemy that transmutes everything 
into value, is proclaimed by Christ in the pleasing as- 
surance, ' ' Whosoever shall give a cup of water to 
drink in my name, verily I say unto you, he shall not 
lose his reward." 

What more plentiful than water? It distills in the 
dews of the night, it crystalizes in the frost of autumn, 
it descends in the snow ot winter, it comes down in the 
refreshing showers of spring and the drenching rain 
of summer, it sparkles in bubbling springs, runs and 
ripples in mountain rivulets, glides in graceful rivers, 
and booms in the billows on the beach. It laughs in 
cascades and thunders in cataracts. Next to air and 
sunshine it is the most plentiful and the cheapest of 
God's natural bounties. But a cup of water is made the 



MOTIVE PRINCIPLE. 31 

exponent of the benevolent spirit. Give the draught 
to the humblest wayfarer because it is Christly to re- 
lieve the thirsty, and your reward shall be sure. 
Great soldiers, dying with mortal wounds and an- 
guished with thirst, have spared their own parched 
lips the coveted draught that they might appease the 
craving of a wounded enemy. What a Christly 
spirit has prompted such sacrificial thoughtfulness in 
the hour of extremity ! One of the most beautiful 
episodes in Bible History is that of David's craving 
at the cave of Adullam, and the supply of his desire 
by the three mighty men that broke the Philistine 
line and drew water out of the well at Bethlelem, 
which is by the gate. David's exclamation — not com- 
mand, not request — as exhausted and faint he thought 
of the well at which he had often slaked his youthful 
thirst was: O, that one would give me drink of 
the water of the well of Bethlehem, which is by the 
gate." The chieftain did not expect his warriors to 
perform any such deed of valor as his trio of valiant 
men executed to gratify his wish. But these braves 
showed a devotion to their Commander, on this ac- 
count, surpassing any valor they might have displayed 
in obedience to an " order." David had a demonstra- 
tion of their love and loyalty to him in this act such 
as he never could have secured by mere command- 
ment. So may Christians show their devotion to the 
Great Captain of their Salvation by their voluntary, 
unselfish, and uncommanded deeds of love. Many 
are saying this, and that, and the other thing,arenot 
prescribed, or prohibited in the Bible and, hence, 



32 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

only do that for which there is express commandment, 
or refrain from that for which there is a definite "thou 
shalt not." In this regard for mere rules there is 
none of the spirit of that high consecration which led 
the Apostle to declare, "For me to live is Christ, but 
to die is gain." What is the wish and will of the 
Master? " Lord what wilt thou have me to do?" — is 
the inquiry of the devout Christian heart. There were 
many soldiers in the army of David who were faith- 
ful enough to the "regulations," and thoroughly 
obedient to orders. They could keep out of the 
guard-house, and incur no censure from their chief- 
tain. They did their duty as told them. But this 
was exceeded by the trinity of devoted men who en- 
dangered their lives to gratify a wish, not the will, of 
David. Nothing too great and sacrificial for our 
leader was the legend on their shields. Gibbon tells 
us that, in a daring inroad beyond the Tigris, Abu 
Taher advanced to the gates of the Capitol with no 
more than five hundred horse. By the special order 
of Moctader, the bridges had been broken down, and 
the head of the rebel was expected every hour by the 
commander of the faithful. His lieutenant from a 
motive of fear or pity, apprised Abu Taher of his 
danger, and recommended a speedy escape. "Your 
Master," said the intrepid Carmathian to the messen- 
ger, "is at the head of thirty thousand soldiers ; three 
such men as these are wanting in his host " ; at the 
same instant, turning to three of his companions, he 
commanded the first to plunge a dagger into his 
breast, the second to leap into the Tigris, and the 



MOTIVE PRINCIPLE. 33 

third to throw himself down from a precipice. They 
obeyed without a murmur. " Relate what you have 
seen ; before the evening your General shall be 
chained among my dogs." Before the evening the 
camp was surprised and the menace executed. Did 
as loyal a spirit prevail in the hearts of all Christians 
so that they might imitate the devotion of such heroes 
as those of David and Abu Taher, and be able to say 
with the heroic Paul, "But none of these things 
[perils that might befall him at Jerusalem] move me, 
neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I 
might finish my course with joy, and the ministry^ 
which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify 
the Gospel of the Grace of God," (Act. xx: 24), — 
what could stand before the embattled host? It 
would be enough for men and devils to know that 
such a spirit burned within the breasts of the soldiers 
of Christ to make opposing legions fly every field on 
which the Gospel banner kissed the breeze. 

How feeble the faith and flawed the service in 
which the effort is to reduce Christian living to a 
minimum, instead of aspiring to raise it to the 
maximum! We hear of Christian pilgrims saying, "I 
w r iil be satisfied if I can get into Heaven by the skin 
of my teeth, and stand afar off to behold Christ on 
his throne of glory." Their ambition should be a 
place in the front rank, the foremost file of the van- 
guard, and to have an "entrance ministered unto them 
abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord 
and Savior, Jesus Christ," (II Peter i: 11.) It may 
be that Christ will accept less than we are able to 



34 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

give; that he will acknowledge the order-observing sol- 
dier when he would be happy to crown him as a 
desire-consulting disciple. ' ' Therefore, as ye abound 
in everything, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, 
and in all diligence, and in your love to us, see that 
ye abound in this grace (liberality) also," (II Cor. 
viii : 7. ) The generosity of the Macedonian Churches, 
which 4 'abounded unto the riches of their liberality," 
was attributed by the Apostle to "the grace of God 
bestowed upon them." Through this inspiring 
motivity "to their power, yea, and beyond their 
power they were willing ot themselves; praying us 
with much entreaty that we would receive the gift, 
and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to 
the saints. And this they did, not as we hoped, but first 
gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by 
the will of God," (II Cor. viii: 4, 5). Paul made 
tents that he might not impede the Gospel. What 
are you willing to do to put on its glorious flight the 
Angel that has the everlasting Gospel to preach ? Will 
you weigh down its wings with your covetousness, 
or load them with the leaves of light to drop at every 
wave of the flying pinions for the healing of the 
nations ? Your love for Christ is tested by what you 
are willing and wishing to do for his cause. You 
cannot live the spirit-life without doing. You cannot 
be happy in doing without being willing to work and 
wishing to do more. God's blessing is measured 
according to what you are willing to do had you the 
power. Intention may be much larger than the 
deed. This raised the value of the widow's mites, 



MOTIVE PRINCIPLE. 35 

' 'all the living she had," far above the shekels of the 
rich Pharisees who gave of their abundance. A New 
England pastor tells of a factory girl who came to 
him with a hundred dollars, the savings of her own 
earnings for a whole year, as an offering to the mis- 
sionary cause. She avowed that she had prayerfully 
promised it to Christ and could not be perfectly 
happy until she had fulfilled her consecrated pledge. 
Such a self-denying act, like the alms of Cornelius, 
went up as a memorial of and before her to God. 
She made her work show her faith. Every one of 
those dollars was a golden apple from her faith-tree. 
She will find them again on the Tree of Life. 
" My little children " said the seraphic John, "let us 
not love in word, neither in tongue; but. in deed and 
in truth." (I John iii: 1 8). 

What lofty consecration was it that enabled the 
gifted and affluent and noble John Howard to immo- 
late himself upon the altar of a suffering humanity ! 
Like his Master he was rich, and became poor to 
make others rich. It were well to recall the words of 
this hero of humanity: "Our superfluities must be 
given up for our neighbor's conveniences ; our con- 
veniences for our neighbor's necessities." While it is 
not perhaps, practical that all, or most persons, should 
realize this lofty ideal of self-sacrifice for the good of 
others, it is well for us to be reminded that such 
nobility of surrender for the good of others is possible 
to our humanity. Christ did certainly require such 
a sacrifice of one young man who came to him in- 
quiring the way of eternal life. He had kept the 



36 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

commandments from his youth, but Christ required 
of him one supreme act of denial and consecration 
which all his obedience to law did not fit him to ren- 
der. ' ' Then Jesus beholding him laved him, and said 
unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, 
sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and 
thou shalt have treasure in Heaven ; and come, take 
up the cross and follow me. And he was sad at 
that saying and went away grieved ; for he had great 
possessions. And Jesus looked round about, and 
said unto his disciples, How hardly shall they that 
have riches enter into the Kingdom of God, etc." 
(Markx: 21-31.) Now, many a wealthy man has 
read this incident, and the truths Jesus has associated 
with it, with a heavy heart. In this world it is easy for 
a rich man to enter into its kingdoms. The golden key 
unlocks every ward, and lifts the latch of every gate. 
But a rich man, as such, cannot enter the wicket gate 
of the City or Kingdom of God. He must enter 
just the same as a poor man. The camel could go 
through the eye of the needle only when stripped of 
its burden of wealth and on its knees. ' ' Blessed are 
the poor in spirit ; for theirs is the Kingdom of 
Heaven," (Matt, v: 3.) The rich man would keep 
all he has, as much as is possible, and yet get into 
the Kingdom of Heaven. He would be Dives on 
earth and Lazarus in Heaven. He would give up in 
time that of the least value, and secure that in eternity 
of the most. The fault of the amiable young man, 
whom Jesus loved, was not that he had great pos- 
sessions,but that he had set his heart on them. He, 



MOTIVE PRINCIPLE. 37 

doubtlessly, had come by them honestly and he was 
not rebuked for having them. His lack consisted in 
an attempt to serve God, which requires heavenly- 
mindedness, while his thoughts and heart were set on 
earthly things. The difficulty in all cases where 
wealth is possessed, is not that riches in and of them- 
selves make it hard to enter into the Kingdom of 
God, but that it is difficult to keep from fixing the 
affections on them, and therefore of escaping their 
influence in attracting and alienating the heart from 
God and the heavenly inheritance. 

Rich men find it difficult to manage their fortunes 
and gains for God's glory, and to give up to the uses 
of his Kingdom that large sum which duty makes 
imperative. To love God with the whole mind and 
strength and our neighbors as ourselves, it is necessary 
to be willing to sacrifice everything of a worldly 
nature to this supreme dual affection. Jesus taught 
the impossibility of those who put their trust in 
riches, who serve Mammon, who are covetous and 
therefore idolaters, of entering the Kingdom of God. 
Being put in trust of riches and trusting in riches, are 
not one and the same thing. ' 'Charge them that are 
rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor 
trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who gireth 
us richly (plentifully) all things to enioy ; that they do good, 
that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, 
willing to communicate. " (I Tim. vi: 17, 18.) 

There is such a thing as ' ' using the world as not 
abusing it, " and richly enjoying the bounties of a 
good Providence. Christianity has created a civiliza- 



38 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

tion that embraces the fine arts, and architecture. 
There is such a thing as a pictorial Gospel. Nativi- 
ties, Transfigurations, Crucifixions, Ascensions, may 
preach to us with majestic import from the canvas of 
the great masters of religious painting. Michael 
Angelo's "Moses" is a grand impersonation, in mar- 
ble, of the Hebrew law. Music may appeal to us, in 
the highest forms of notation and harmony from the 
scores of orchestras, and organs and choirs that reg- 
ister and voice " Creations, " " Elijahs, "and "Messi- 
ahs." Architects may plan and build for the glory of 
God, and Cathedrals and Chapels may monument a 
Christly devotion. Poets may rightly string and 
strike the lyre of the Muses to praise God's handi- 
craft in nature, in grace, and in providence. ^Es- 
thetic taste may provide parks and fountains, and 
museums, and libraries with the Lord's money and 
in a rightful ministry to God's poor. The dainties of 
garden, orchard and vineyard, of the land and air and 
sea, were made to give pleasure to the palate. He 
who painted the plumage of Birds of Paradise, and 
tuned an orchestra of "feathered songsters," cannot 
be displeased with color in scene and sound. ' 'Add to 
your robe fringes." "Whatsoever things are lovely 
... if there be any praise, think on these things." 
(Phil, iv: 8.) Says Goethe, "We should do our ut- 
most to encourage the beautiful since the useful en- 
courages itself." " Man wants but little here below" 
is a truism of utilitarianism, but the eclectic man 
wants much of beauty and brightness and sweetness. 
God hath no hobgoblins in this populous nursery of 



, MOTIVE PRINCIPLE. 39 

his, to frighten us from the banquet of life. No 
threatening Damoclean sword is hung above our 
heads, suspended by a single hair, to menace us as 
we feast. There are no cross-bones decussating the 
sky, and no grinning skulls marring the rose-bushes. 
The one measures our days with smiles, and the oth- 
er with blushes and fragrance. The. dial of the 
clock of time sparkles with stars; and its musical 
pendulum, wreathed with garlands, beats off the 
glad quick-step of a triumphing humanity marching 
to a higher destiny. Our blessed God and Heaven- 
ly Father has no ugly contrivance to frighten us from 
natural enjoyment. "He hath brought us to his 
banqueting house and his banner over us is love." 
Our beautiful earth-home is not disfigured with the 
hideous effigies that men call death. Jesus was a 
man of joys as well as a man of sorrows. He is as 
glad with us at our innocent festivals as he is sad with 
us amid the gloom and grief of our funerals. That 
life which closed amid the shadows of the crucifixion 
has its chain running through with golden links the 
home at Bethany, and connecting the Cross with 
Cana of Galilee and the marriage feast and inaugu- 
ral miracle. ' ' We are marching through Immanu- 
el's land to fairer worlds on high." To richly enjoy, 
as God-given, the oases green, the vine-clad hills, 
and beautiful valleys; to camp at Elim, shaded by 
its palm trees and refreshed by its waters, is our 
privilege and Heaven's » pleasure. Asceticism and 
Stoicism, no more than Epicureanism, comport with 
the spirit or genius of Christ's religion. A rational 



40 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

use of money, in the encouragement and cultivation 
of the beautiful, is not sinful. Self-denial does not 
require of us such an abasement as will make us ab- 
ject. The cultivation of the beautiful may eventu- 
ate in the bestowment of a great charity upon the 
poor. We are not compelled by Christianity to eat 
the simplest articles of food that will sustain life, to 
wear the coarsest raiment with which the body can 
be clothed, to live in the rudest hut that will shelter 
us from the weather, in order to retrench expendi- 
tures that we may give to christian evangelism or be- 
nevolence. When God turned architect he caused to 
be erected the most superb and costly edifice that 
earth ever shouldered. All the altar decorations, 
the tapestry veils, the inlay of ceiling and walls, the 
robes, girdles, ephods, breastplates and croziers 
of the priests were designs of elegance, and comform- 
able to the highest principles of strength, beauty and 
taste. All that could charm the eye, and ear, and 
sense of smell, were appliances of the Temple wor- 
ship. The patronage of labor employed in the pro- 
duction, manufacture and transportation of luxuries, 
that do not injure and destroy, may even comport 
with a righteous use of wealth. The greater part of 
human toil is employed in the production, or fashion- 
ing of the luxuries created and demanded by Chris- 
tian Civilization. While it is true that many keep 
themselves in poverty by a gratification of luxurious 
tastes beyond their means, yet many more are kept 
from poverty by the enjoyment of luxuries by those 
who can afford them. But the poorest are entitled, 



MOTIVE PRINCIPLE. 41 

occasionally, to a "good square meal," and to be 
clad in comely and neat apparel, and to be comforta- 
bly housed. They are not required to stint them- 
selves of all good and live on the barest necessities of 
life possible, that they may have the more to give. 
Let not wife and children be robbed, that others may 
have. " Let him that stole steal no more ; but rather 
let him labor, working with his hands the thing which 
is good, that he may have to give to him that need- 
eth." (Eph. iv : 28.) Those who are possessed of 
plenty of means should surround themselves with 
comforts, elegancies and luxuries that they may 
benefit the artist and artisan by giving employment 
to skill and craft, and thus, more rationally, help 
the poor than by indiscriminate charity bestowed up- 
on enforced or voluntary idleness. Money, however, 
spent upon that which hurts the body, deranges the 
intellect, inflames the passions, and demoralizes the 
characters of men, is worse than criminally wasted, 
and no pretense of giving employment to those en- 
gaged in the making of such injurious luxuries can 
justify the buying and use of the hurtful things. We 
must distinguish between the sins of destroying con- 
sumption and a mere exchange of values. All loss 
by gaming, drunkenness and speculation, is waste. 
Says a suggestive writer, ' ' We need a deeper sense 
of the claims of the totality of mankind upon us. 
What we do with our own does not concern merely 
ourselves. Our property and time are demanded by 
some one else when we are done with them, and if 
we destroy them, instead of passing them on, the right- 



42 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

ful heir, in expectancy, is defrauded." We are to 
" gather up the fragments that nothing be lost." He 
who could feed by a miracle five thousand hungry 
people would not suffer the remainder to be lost. 
Food must not go into the garbage barrel that 
might go to appease the needy hungry. Good gar- 
ments that might clothe the naked must not be given 
to moths. It is as wrong to wantonly waste values, 
which would be helpful to the necessitous, as it is to 
steal them. Idleness is waste of time — ''the stuff 
that life is made of " — and man's most valuable pos- 
session. After a "strike" the world is poorer by 
as much as the idle workmen would have produced 
had they been employed. It is better to prevent a 
fire than to attempt to indemnify the losers by a 
relief subscription. All labor lost by reason of dis- 
sipation, waste of' energy from the use of strong 
drink, ill-health produced by gluttony and drunken- 
ness, indiscreet direction of effort and means, shabby 
and insecure work, is guilty waste. Putting fine 
work in cheap and perishable material is the greatest 
folly, if not a criminal waste of genius. Pietro di 
Medici incurred the reprehension of all artistic Eu- 
rope by building an elaborate palace of ice to meet 
the demands of extravagant caprice. Zeuxissaid, "I 
paint for eternity." The gratification of mere whim- 
seys, by the extravagant expenditure of money, is not 
a right use of wealth. 

Presents to friends, though not of utilitarian value, 
memorials of friendship, and modest monuments to 
ward the dust of the dead, are not to be reckoned 



MOTIVE PRINCIPLE. 43 

as unrighteous uses of money. Ostentatious dis- 
play, however, at weddings and funerals is to 
be reckoned as reprehensible. A large cortege of 
carriages, that often merely furnish free rides to the 
cemetery to frolicsome excursionists, provided at an 
expense many are illy able to bear ; a great parade 
of floral designs, often violative of all the unities 
of art and the delicacies of true taste; expensive 
caskets covered with tawdry tapestries, or glistening 
with gewgaws ; monuments with carved roses and 
other conceits, sadly out of place when fixed in mar- 
ble and the door of a tomb; pompous epitaphs and 
poetic rhodomontade — all these things are extrav- 
agancies against which propriety, refinement and relig- 
ion protest, and should be abandoned The showy 
society funeral is imitated by the poorer classes 
who cannot afford the cost of a procession of 
coaches, of silver-plate caskets, and a rich parade of 
conservatory flowers. Thousands are ground down 
in poverty because fashion, conformed to, has entail- 
ed an expense for funerals and burial far beyond their 
means. The custom of a family going into mourn- 
ing, necessitating the expense of a wardrobe through- 
out, is particularly oppressive to the poor and is 
meaningless. Let it be abandoned, and grief shrink 
from advertising itself by wearing a regulation uni- 
form. Could not mourners better employ the re- 
sources, wasted on the idle pomp of funerals, the vain 
magnificence of tombs and monuments, the prodigal 
and vulgar use of flowers, in the mitigation of the mis- 
eries of men ? Give the living flowers, as token of 



44 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

friendly favor while they have eyes that can brighten 
at the sight of blossoms, and sense that can snuff 
the sweets of fragrance. Give them anchors, and 
crowns and stars, wrought in the loom of sunshine 
and shower, taste and truth; place them on a swelling 
breast that can billow their beauty, and spare the 
pulseless breast the idle mockery of its burden of 
blossoms, and garlands of green. Well hath it been 
said, "We celebrate nobler obsequies by drying the 
tears of others than by shedding our own, and the 
fairest funeral wreath we can hang on their tomb is 
not so fair as a fruit-offering of good deeds." A 
writer in the Atlantic Monthly very truly states: "As 
a matter of taste and feeling the worst abuse of flow- 
ers is at funerals. One needs no further proof of the 
conventional and cold-blooded manner in which they 
are employed than the wire frames and stands of mor- 
tuary designs in the florists' windows, intended for 
funerals as much as the pall and hearse feathers." 
No wonder that people of sensibility cry out 
" no flowers, " when death has entered their homes 
and despoiled f their hearts. Let us restore flowers as 
the symbol of simple love too sorrowful to seek dis- 
play. Make them suggestive of the life that rises out of 
death to be crowned with immortality, rather than ex- 
hibit the art of the floral decorator and the pageantry of 
pride. It is not intimated that a simple and sweet use of 
flowers at funerals is reprehensible, or that to save 
expense we should neglect our Necropolis. The di- 
versified green and undulating landscape, artistic 
gardening, as seen at Greenwood, and in other simi- 



MOTIVE PRINCIPLE. 45 

lar cemeteries, is a great death-sting robber. But 
when the small and the great lie together on the com- 
mon level, to which all are brought, it seems a shame 
that the pompous Cenotaph should throw its cold 
and haughty shadow over the simple mound-marked 
graves of the poor — and, especially, that there should 
bea " Potter's field. " If, like our public parks, ceme- 
teries could be maintained at the cost of the commu- 
nity, and human vanity could find no place for osten- 
tation in the dormitories of the dead, it would be far 
better than now. Wealth, recognizing that death, 
like God, is no respecter of persons, and that all are 
equal in the grave, could be better employed in 
breaking its alabaster boxes and anointing for burial 
all alike. Cemetery lots are now so high that people 
of moderate means can only afford one deep grave, 
in which, tier on tier, they must store away their dead, 
while the poor must be buried in trenches and mingle 
their dust with that of strangers. We are promising 
to rival that " nation of undertakers," the Egyptians, 
in the elaborate details of funeral affairs; and if we go 
much farther we will add the uniformed pall- 
bearers, a long train of hired mourners clad in a pre- 
scribed costume, and funeral banquets, after burials, 
that may be wassails. 

While the gospel discountenances waste, every- 
thing looking to ornament and elegance in religion is 
not unchristian. Jesus announced a living principle 
when he commended the loving woman for expend- 
ing three hundred pennyworth for a perfume with 
which to anoint his body for burial. Her deed of 



46 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

grateful love was made monumental, and wherever 
the gospel throughout the world was preached it was 
to be told as a memorial of her. A penny was the 
wage of a day's labor. She expended the fruit of a 
year's pay in one act of devotion. The deed was as 
purely sentimental as it was costly. Judas, the treas- 
urer of the disciples, was shocked at such extrava- 
gance and, apparently, pertinently asked the reason 
of this waste, and why the box and ointment were 
not sold and the price thereof given to the poor. 
"She hath wrought a good (beautiful) work, " was the 
answer of the Lord. It was beautiful in his sight as 
an act of unselfish devotion. The acts that glorify 
the pages of history have been wrought in the self- 
same spirit in which the spikenard was used, for a 
simple sentiment, as gross utilitarianism would regard 
it, for the glory of a piece of tattered bunting float- 
ing over a field of honor, or in reverence of some 
plain-complexioned truth dearer to the convictions 
than the stake was terrible to the fears, or for proof 
of a love for some gentle creature, worthy of knightly 
daring. ' ' It would be a vulgar and dreary world if 
there were no room in it for such affections and desires 
as those which prompted the gift of the spikenard; if 
that only which is undeniably practical were allowed; 
but there is room; and when the beautiful works of 
the man who is intolerant of sentiment have crumbled 
and vanished, those memorials remain which sainted, 
but perhaps impractical souls have raised through 
deeds of simple love. The gift of spikenard was 
prophetic of Jesus' coronation day, — when at the 



MOTIVE PRINCIPLE. 47 

mention of his name every knee shall bow, and every 
tongue confess that he is worthy to receive honor. 
We almost feel as if we owed the giver a debt of 
thanks for redeeming humanity from the disgrace of 
utter ingratitude; and for indicating in a hard and 
material world the claims of the imagination, of the 
moral sentiment, and the higher aspirations of the 
soul. The fragrance of her gift has filled the world, 
as it once filled the house in which it was poured 
forth." — Christian World. 

Fault-finders, after the type of Judas, are not the 
class most considerate of the poor. Those who ex- 
act rack-rent, devour widows' houses, and grind the 
faces of the poor, are loudest in declaiming against 
the cost and splendor of places of worship. Thus 
they excuse their own stinginess. The poor man is 
well aware to whom he can appeal for help and sym- 
pathy. He goes to the loving woman — not to the 
pretentious Judas. Those who feel that nothing is 
too good and costly as an exponent of honor paid 
their Lord, and find pleasure in bestowing on Christ's 
service the best they have, are those who carry the 
poor in their hearts and minister to them with their 
helping hands. If you hear that some woman of 
wealth has given to her church a handsome baptis- 
mal font, or an elegant communion service, in a grate- 
ful, loving spirit, not from pride or vain glory, you 
may certainly count that that same " elect lady" is a 
minister of mercy to the poor. There are people 
who, while they can see why substantial churches 
should be built, comfortably seated, warmed and ven- 



48 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

tilated, cannot see why there should be a stucco, or 
fresco, or organ, or anything that is beautiful. They 
have no eye for the beautiful. They try everything 
by the standard of utility. Having no aesthetic cul- 
ture themselves, they are totally at a loss to discern 
how any distribution of form and color, light and 
shade, can influence the mind of a worshiper. Had 
they had the creating of the world they would have 
scarfed the shoulders of no shower with a rainbow, 
decked no dell with daisies, upholstered no hills with 
vines, carpeted no meadows with green, ribboned no 
plains with rivulets, painted the plumage of no birds, 
but all would have been as plain as possible. The 
earth would have been a barrack instead of a palace. 
But the sense of the beautiful is in man. He will, 
when he can, dwell in homes ceiled with cedar; and it 
does not appear to be seemly to him, when devout, 
that the ark of the Lord should abide in a curtained 
tabernacle. He would offer God in His house, at 
least, the elegancies he enjoys in his own home. 

And when the church of God is made beautiful in 
its architecture, its appointments, and in its services, 
it is a contribution to the poor. Their own homes 
are scant of space, barren of decorations, and often 
comfortless. Give them one beautiful, sweet place in 
which to freely worship God. Let the tired eye rest 
itself on symmetry of form and warmth of color. 
Let the toil-blistered foot rest on a tufted and carpet- 
ed floor. Give the weary body rest in an upholstered 
pew. Greet the ear with tones of harmony ; make 
all this free for occupation and enjoyment to all who 



MOTIVE PRINCIPLE. 49 

would enter into God's courts with thanksgiving and 
worship Him in "the beauty of holiness." It is not 
true that fine churches, in the sense that they are 
beautiful and engaging, deter the masses from going 
to church. The most magnificent structures of earth 
are cathedrals, in which the sons and daughters of 
toil love to gather and do go in multitudes, as " doves 
flock to the windows." Protestantism must find some 
other reason than that the churches are "fine" for 
the failure of the people to crowd them. May it 
not rather be from barrenness than beauty? May we 
not have too few pictures, rather than too much 
fresco? "The devil fly away with the fine arts," was 
the language of the sturdy Puritan as he dashed his 
battle-ax through a stained glass window. " It is a 
popish perversion," was his justification as he ripped 
up the canvas of a master. ' ' Go about your master's 
business," was his command as he threw the silver 
statues of the Apostles into his crucible to melt them 
into money. With nasal twang he sang his psalms 
and regarded the rhythmic chant as a lure of Satan. 
May it not be that the rebound of Protestantism 
from the excesses of Romanism carried it to the op- 
posite extreme? Looking to how God made the 
world beautiful, and how he ordered the ornamenta- 
tion of his Temple, we are to recognize the fact that 
imagination is closely allied to faith; that spiritual 
faculties are ministered unto, and spiritual forces de- 
veloped by the beautiful in form, color, relations, — 
by that which is sweet to the ear and fragrant to the 
sense. The colored chromos that decorate our Sun- 



50 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

day school rooms, the bindings of blue and gold of the 
books in our libraries, the flowers and birds we in- 
troduce into the sanctuaries of youth, have their 
utilities in the training of the susceptible hearts of 
children to an admiration of God in His works, and 
a love for Him in His grace. 

Wealth may very properly expend itself in 
public parks and in private grounds. A rich man 
who beautifies his lawn with parterres and foun- 
tains, gives refreshing vision to the laborer and the 
seamstress, as they hurry past from smoked attics 
to stuffy and steamy work-shops. An eye-full of 
beauty, given the poor, at the cost of the rich, is a 
contribution to their refinement and enjoyment. 

Now if the loving woman had expended the cost 
of that precious box and its ointment upon herself, 
to minister to female pride and parade, to make her- 
self artificially agreeable and attractive to others, the 
charge of waste and sinful extravagance might have 
had a basis upon which to rest. But it was a 
deed of grateful love; and Jesus approved it, as 
such, and gave it a perpetuity of commendation 
scarcely attached to any other incident of his minis- 
try. ''The Christian Weekly" points out the duty 
of giving to God the cleanest and best by a pertinent 
anecdote: ' ' We were told a while ago of a christian 
woman, who, when she had silver money to put in 
the missionary collection, scoured the piece, that it 
might be bright and clean. It was her feeling that 
only that which was in such a condition was fit for 
the Lord's treasury. We may call this a mere senti- 



MOTIVE PRINCIPLE. 51 

ment, yet it is a sentiment in the right direction. It 
is the impulse of the devout heart to do that which the 
ancient Jew was under ritual obligation to do — to of- 
fer as a sacrifice only that which was without blemish. 
The best is the only suitable offering to make to God 

It was an expression of a sense of God's 

purity, that even the coin that went into His treasury 
should be clean and shining. We do not always lay 
the stress we ought on the beauty of holiness." It is 
right that in our best raiment:, and most cleanly 
toilets, and engaging appearance we should go up to 
the house of God in company. The utensils of the 
Temple were clean and holy. Let us have fair 
linen and shining silver flagons, chalices and patens 
for our sacramental services. Let our pulpit Bibles 
and Hymnals be free from blemish and beautiful in 
typography and binding. Let deportment, music, 
furniture — all, show that God is entitled to and graci- 
ously receives our best. When the Fifth avenue 
Presbyterian church was built, a leading New York 
daily published an editorial, which was, in substance, 
a cunning criticism of Dr. Hall's church in particular, 
but was in reality a general assault on Protestantism 
as compared with Romanism, for neglecting the poor 
and cultivating the rich. Dr. Hall published a reply 
in which he said: " There is an undertone of mild 
censure on ' proprietary churches, ' of which you re- 
gard the Fifth avenue Presbyterian church as a spec- 
imen. I am at a loss to see the grounds for this 
reflection. Churches must belong to somebody. Is 
it an objection to them that they are 'proprietary?' 



52 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

Protestant churches are usually built by the people 
and for the people. Would it mend the matter any if 
the title were invested in me and I had complete con- 
trol? But this is the condition of things with the 
churches eulogized in the ' open letter. ' The title 
rests in the Bishop; the people have no rights which 
he is bound to respect; their contributions give them 
no rights. The Bishop can regulate admission and 
demand an admission fee, and in point of fact sustain 
his rights in the United States law- courts. Is this 
any improvement on our plan?" 

The editor had made a point of the great cost of 
the new church edifice. Dr. Hall said : 

"But the cost of the Fifth avenue Church is ob- 
jectionable. Why should there be a Church there? 
Should it be an eyesore ? Or would good sense and 
good taste require it to have some proportion to the 
style and appearance of the avenue ? Is it our fault 
that it required $350,000 to buy a site for it, or that 
it cost $700,000 more to erect a building at once large 
enough for a Church of over a thousand members, 
and not out of keeping with the avenue ? Suppose 
we had run up a lath and plaster structure on the best 
part of the avenue near the Central Park — a mere 
solid sort of circus accommodation — we should have 
been censured for that puritanical lack of taste that 
disfigured our most splendid avenue. And as to cost, 
surely it is relative. A religious edifice in an Amer- 
ican town will cost the price of ten or fifteen ordi- 
nary houses in the place, and not be thought extrav- 



MOTIVE PRINCIPLE. 53 

agant. And the cost of ten or fifteen houses, on the 
avenue, has erected a Church on the avenue. 

''Surely it is not like the good sense of a high 
class newspaper to single out Protestant places of 
worship for disapproval, when the erection of other 
handsome and imposing public buildings is set down 
to public spirit. Why should railways, banks and all 
secular corporations present themselves in imposing 
structures, and the worship of the Almighty be 
deemed unworthy of some outlay? If, indeed, we 
begged the money, or wrung it from the fears of the 
poor and needy, or were conspicuously wanting to all 
public charities, we might be justly censured. But 
why should Protestants be precluded from erecting, 
if they can afford it, a handsome structure for the 
purpose of their worship? 

" But it is suggested that the poor cannot worship 
in it. Where is the evidence of that? The annual 
cost you greatly overstate. If many rich men paid 
large sums for pews, it has been, among other objects, 
that the less rich should be able to worship there at 
moderate expense. It is worth inquiring whether 
there is another public building in the city that can 
be visited with equal comfort and advantage three 
hundred times in the year for less than $8.00 per an- 
num." 

The Fifth avenue Presbyterian church gave one 
year (1886) $28,000 to missions. It is not a church 
of millionaires. Its membership includes many who 
are wealthy, but as many, or more, who are poor, or 
people who are in moderate circumstances. There 



54 



WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 



is not a place of worship in New York where the 
plainest people are more welcome, and where there 
is less ostentation among the humble worshipers 
than in this magnificent Protestant Cathedral. The 
gospel is nowhere preached in greater simplicity. 
The pastor is as faithful in his attentions to the poor 
as to the rich. 

M 'Ye have the poor always with you,' may be 
said at this great Church; and with equal truth it may 
be said, ' the pastor is always among the poor. ' 

' ' When at last that which we have always longed 
for is arrived and shines on us with glad rays out of 
that Celestial land, then to be coarse, then to be crit- 
ical, and to treat such a visitor with the jabber and 
suspicion of the streets, argues a vulgarity that seems 

to shut the doors of heaven When that love 

which is all-suffering, all-inspiring, comes into our 
streets and houses, only the aspiring can know its 
face; and the only compliment which they can pay 
is to own it." "Too often we fail to recognize the 
angels who are sent us, until they rise up to depart; 
and with hearts incumbered with much serving, or 
much getting and spending, we miss the Christ even 
when he comes to our doors." — G. L. in Christian 
World. 

When I see a country cottage twined with honey- 
suckle and hedged with roses, with garden borders 
and window plants, it is a token to me that the mis- 
eries of poverty are strangers to that home; that, hav- 
ing food and raiment, the inmates are not only free 
from want and full of contentment, but have both 



MOTIVE PRINCIPLE. 55 

leisure and taste to give care to the cultivation of the 
beautiful, and to enjoy some of the refinements of 
life. So, when I behold a Church whose foundations, 
as it were, are laid with sapphires, and whose 
windows are as agates, in a word, where neatness 
and beauty have place and prevail, I infer spiritual 
prosperity. When gates are unhinged, and glass is 
broken, and everything is weather-stained and beg- 
ging for repairs, we cannot help associating such 
dilapidation with imperfect consecration. Beauty as 
it perishes, "is meant to light us on the road to the 
Infinite presence." 

It was the motive that actuated the grateful woman 
that made her deed beautiful and acceptable to the 
Lord Jesus. As an offering of love, though costly, 
it was not a waste. It is a notable fact the covetous 
treasurer of that little band who complained of the 
waste, and seemed so much concerned for the poor, 
went right out, ere the echoes of his hypocritical 
whine had died away, to traffic off his Master to his 
enemies for thirty pieces of silver. The man who 
cants about the "Greeks at our doors, " when the 
foreign missionary collection is about to be taken, is 
not a. man to make a trustee for the poor. He whose 
ears and hands are open to the Macedonian cry, 
"Come over and help us, "is the very one whose 
heart the piteous plea of poverty penetrates, and 
whose purse strings it unlooses. But while we re- 
member that the wise men brought costly offerings 
and sweet incense to His manger, and God made a 
bright new star to beacon them to the stable; while 



56 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

we recall the box of alabaster and its precious spike- 
nard, we must remember that the practical leads to 
the beautiful, and that while we may prove our 
loyalty and love by sentimental sacrifices, that 
Christ is represented in the sick, imprisoned, hungry 
and naked, and that through them, in them, we may 
directly minister to Him. ' ' The poor we have always 
with us." 

"Say, shall we yield, him, in costly devotion, 
Odors of Edom, and offerings divine? ' 

Gems of the mountain and pearls from the ocean, 
Myrrh from the forest and gold from the mine? 

Vainly we offer each ample oblation; 

Vainly witn gifts would his favor secure; 
Richer by far is the heart's adoration; 

Dearer to God are the prayers of the poor." 



DEVOTIONAL GIVING. 57 



CHAPTER IV. 

DEVOTIONAL GIVING. 

Said Henry K. Clark, of Detroit, known as an 
able lay delegate of the synod and assemblies of the 
Presbyterian church: "Taking up a collection has 
become to be regarded as the right of any good 
cause that may properly appeal to christian people. 
To refuse to give the people an opportunity to contrib- 
ute to any such cause is usually regarded by the 
agent as justifying a criticism, bordering on rebuke." 
It is evident that this intelligent, liberal and devout 
layman esteemed it as a privilege to be apprised of 
an opportunity for doing good with his money. A 
collection plate in his eye was no more repulsive to 
his devotional feelings than a communion plate. In 
this he is a typical christian man — an elder who ruleth 
well and deserving of double honor. 

In Christ's sermon on the mount giving and pray- 
ing are twins — go hand in hand. ' ' Take heed that 
ye do not your alms (or righteousness) before men, to 
be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of 
your Father which is in heaven. 

"Therefore, when thou doest//wz<?alms, do not sound 
a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the 
synagogues and in the streets, that they may have 
glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have 
their reward. 



58 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

' ' But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand 
know what thy right hand doeth ; 

' ' That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father 
which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly. 

"And when thou prayest, thou shaltnotbe as the 
hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the 
synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that 
they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, 
They have their reward. 

' ' But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, 
and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father 
which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in 
secret shall reward thee openly. 

■ ' But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the 
heathen do; for they think that they shall be heard 
for their much speaking. 

1 ' Be not ye therefore like unto them ; for your Fa- 
ther knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye 
ask him." (Matt, vi : 1-8.) 

No command for giving is prescribed. It is assum- 
ed that the duty is recognized. The Scriptures al- 
ways assume certain primary truths. They nowhere 
attempt to prove the existence of God. They assume 
that as an axiomatic truth. "The fool hath said in 
his heart, There is no God ;" and, as Dean Swift adds, 
"nobody but a fool would say so." Remark, that 
even the fool said it "in his heart." The Bible opens 
with, "God in the beginning created, "^ etc. So giv- 
ing, as a duty, is taken for granted by the Savior. 
He only tells how — in what spirit — to give. Noth- 
ing, either, is intimated about the recipients of chari- 



DEVOTIONAL GIVING. 59 

ty. The principle is the sole thing dealt with. So, 
throughout the christian system, it is not rules but 
principles. Rules require innumerable details, and 
there are constantly occurring unanticipated cases 
to meet, for which no special provision has been 
made. Principles affect trie motives and rule the life 
— making a law in each particular case. Christ's 
method was to lay down general principles under 
which all the specific duties would marshal themselves 
in order. He made the Christ-heart self-legislative. 
Without refining further let us say at once that the 
spirit of our giving is the supreme thing. Our alms 
are to be done under divine eye-sight and from de- 
vout motives. 

Giving is an act of worship. God is the giver of 
all good. Men are the stewards of his bounty. 
"Give and it shall be given;" "Freely ye have re- 
ceived, freely give," are prescriptive means of grace. 
Pray for blessing, give for blessing. There is to be 
no mock modesty. Christians are examples and they 
must let their light shine. No street-corner procla- 
mations, no trumpet blowing, but a doing of things 
from proper motives. Many a man would slip a 
punched coin into a collection box that would osten- 
tatiously flaunt a greenback on the top of a silver 
plate. The Church subscription must neither be a 
business advertisement nor a menace. Not to be 
seen of or heard of by men must we give, but to 
worship God. Giving thus, we will not ' ' give grudg- 
ingly, " but cheerfully, from the heart as well as the 



60 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

hand. " God loveth a cheerful giver, " and so does 
everybody else. 

We will regard money paid for preaching as 
preaching ourselves ; money given to missions as if 
we were abroad with the message of life. Prayer 
should accompany such offerings. It is a gift upon 
the altar. A collection should be regarded as part 
of the service, and the people worshiping should be 
taught to expect a blessing in the paying as in pray- 
ing, or praising. A christian that cannot shout over 
a great collection should be as still as a church mouse, 
for he is as poor as one. Money-worship is crying 
for a place in our services and properly claiming equal 
rank with praise and prayer. Mark ! I did not say 
the worship of money. I mean the lifting of a col- 
lection to the plane of a devotional act, essential in a 
symmetrical service. Let the plates have a place on 
the communion table; never on the floor. Handle 
them as you do the sacramental loaf and wine. De- 
liver them with a scriptural quotation into the hands 
of unmiserly men;and when they have passed them, 
receive and replace them on the altar. " Jesus sat 
over against the Treasury." He is sitting there still. 
In the portico of the Temple, while His divine soul 
heard the songs of the seraphim, his human ear 
heard the rattle of the Pharisee's shekel and the 
clink of the widow's mites as they sank into the 
treasure-box. Harps and halleluiahs do not drown 
the clatter of coins now any more than then. Aban- 
don omnibus collections. Take every prescribed 
collection separately. Put each on its merits. In- 



DEVOTIONAL GIVING. 61 

struct as to the relative importance and binding 
claims of each. Resort to no doubtful or merely 
secular expedients to raise money. Appeal to the 
convictions and conscience of the people. Create 
the one and quicken the other. 

Religion is a great patron of benevolence. Grace 
is always generous. Hammering cold iron is not 
more unprofitable than trying to discover the com- 
bination of a miser's heart-lock. Melt it. A man 
can lift himself easier by his own boot-straps than "lift 
a collection" when avarice pulls down like a hidden 
load-stone. Getting money is not easy when there 
is no grace in the heart, and but a few punched and 
clipped dimes in the pocket. Covetousness is anti- 
fat. "The liberal soul shall be made fat." The 
man who tries to telescope himself when a collection 
is taken, and who declares that a wet blanket is 
thrown over him by a call for money, needs hydro- 
pathic treatment. Pack him until you sweat the 
copper out of him. All sanctification that claims ex- 
emption from beneficence better befits a hybernat- 
ing bear than a live christian. A man that is too 
good to do God's work is better than God wants him 
to be. "Go work in my vineyard." Jesus built no 
tabernacles on the Mount of Transfiguration. No 
matter what aureole plays about the brow, our feet 
must stand in the tear-pitted dust of earth. Religi- 
ous reverie may become spiritual dissipation. Spirit- 
uality that is so sublimating as to give disrelish for 
homely duties and church-work, ranks with the idle 
dreams of the Lotus-eater. A piety that narcotizes 



62 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

and sends dreamy thoughts out in search of Utopias, 
is as reprehensible as opiate rhapsodies. Temples of 
worship cannot be built from stones quarried from 
the rainbow. "Faith without works is dead." "In 
God we trust" is as befitting a silver dollar as was 
"Holiness to the Lord " embroideried on the hous- 
ings of horses. The Gospel sanctifies states and 
sciences as well as souls. Men are asking for spiritual 
standards. Had we measures in religious dynam- 
ics, as accurately adjusted as the metric system, we 
could have nothing better, as a standard, thafv 
giving according to ability. Every man who knows 
his resources can cipher out his duty by the rule of 
three — God, Man and Self. If he witholds from 
God and lies to the Holy Ghost, he is more likely to 
be struck with apoplexy than to get to heaven. A 
man may start out in a Pullman palace car and be 
ever so complaisant as he bowls along the continuous 
steel rail, on muffled wheels; but unless he does 
something more than repose, gossip, or slumber, he 
will not read the morning papers in the Land of 
Beulah. He will be side-tracked, while he sleeps, at 
Stingytown. 

The remedy for covetousness and stinginess is re- 
ligion. But once get the heart in God's flaming forge 
and it may be moulded at will. 

" Come shed abroad a Savior's love, 
And that shall kindle ours," 

is a couplet that has ' ' millions in it. " The constrain- 
ing love of Christ is the diamond drill that bores the 
ore beds, and engineers the shafts to bonanzas. The 
Philosopher's stone that turns everything into gold is 



DEVOTIONAL GIVING. 63 

the new heart. When that is keeping house in a 
man's breast, every good cause receives hospitable 
treatment. The first work of a preacher, sent to a 
people that "give according to their meanness" 
rather than "their means," is to bring them to the 
mourner's seat. A New York preacher who had 
abandoned all altar-work, found the world getting 
away with his church. He went to Bishop Waugh 
for advice. The curt old Episcopos said, ' ' Bench 
'em, bench 'em, sir." Nothing could be said against 
the Church at Laodicea but that it was dead. But 
God can quicken again into life a dead church. 
Prophesy over the valley of dry bones. Don't try to 
rattle off the dance of death with a skeleton articu- 
lated with wire. Cry, " Come, O breath, and breathe 
upon these slain, that they may live!" When they 
give signs of life, it is a sign that they will give mon- 
ey. The spiritual health of Zion depends on its lib- 
erality. The church is not allowed to covet but one 
thing, namely: "Covet earnestly the best gifts," but 
"the greatest of these is charity." 

Let the preacher who tries and fails, have honor 
with those who succeed. Many work harder for a 
little than others who report much. Jesus could not 
do many mighty works in some cities. A man who 
could catch tribute- fish on Galilee circuit, would fail 
on Dead Sea mission. Out of nothing, nothing 
comes. 

Set the children to work. As Hamilcar brought 
Hannibal to the altar and bade him touch the sacri- 
fices and swear eternal hostility to Rome, so," let us 



64 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

consecrate our children to Christ, and pledge them to 
an undying fealty to God, and an unfearing hostility 
to sin and Satan. " Bring them up in (not into) the 
nurture and admonition of the Lord" — in a state that 
is — not one that may or may not be. Engage them 
in the interest of missions, the Sabbath School, and 
education, not, primarily, for the money they can 
gather, but to train them in habits of liberality. Let 
them be taught to give money on principle. Do not 
bribe them with premiums. Rewarding them for duty 
with prizes, is raising up a pension class for the church. 
Bring the youth up to be cheerful givers. Let them 
realize that " it is more blessed to give than to re- 
ceive." Put the reward within the heart. Such 
nurture would result in regarding Church member- 
ship as a privilege to be desired, rather than in lead- 
ing them to look on the Church as a hospital for the 
coddling of spiritual invalids. Babes in Christ are 
not christian babies. Let our sons be as "plants 
grown up in their youth," and our daughters be 
"as corner stones, polished after the similitude of a 
palace." Raise a single generation up to the Gospel 
standard, and the world will be saved before the 
oldest of it die. 

Bring woman into co-operation. Christianity is 
the only system that has properly ensphered her. It was 
a woman, standing in the sun, crowned with stars, 
and trampling the burnt-out moon beneath her feet, 
that St. John saw in his vision. So lustrous was to 
be her mission, that "light, the shadow of God," 
was made the back-ground to display her queenly 



DEVOTIONAL GIVING. 65 

influence. While the world continues to debate 
woman's suffrage, the Kingdom of God has enfran- 
chised her. Skeptics scornfully upbraid the Church 
because of the great preponderance of women in her 
communion. We would remind them of the great 
preponderance of men in the penitentiary. Society 
proceeds from the family of which the wife is the 
living bond. The home and the harem are open to 
woman's missionary zeal. Deep down in childhood 
the roots of religious faith are struck, and on old 
associations do they feed. The swing of the cradle 
describes the arc of the world's destiny. Adult 
Pagans may perish Christless. Christiana is coming, 
bringing the children with her. Multiply the Han- 
nahs, and Samuels will say, as the devout young 
man, "Put the collection plate lower, I want 
to step into it myself." Woman's smile is the sun- 
omen of success. As Cromwell saw, at Dunbar, the 
sun rising through the mist and pointed to it with his 
sword and said : ' ' Arise, O friends of God, and let 
your enemies be scattered!" — so do we discern her 
helping smile making rosy the mist of doubt and dif- 
ficulty, and hear our Captain's call to smite and scat- 
ter the hosts that confront our lines. What she has 
accomplished since she begun, gives no mean pre- 
sage of what she will do with multiplying power. 
Impelled by gratitude to the Gospel which has brok- 
en her yoke, liberated her from the seraglio and the 
plow, and lifted her to a level with man; confronted 
in all non-christian lands with the servility and de- 
gradation of her sex, she will carry the sacred story 



66 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

to the mother and her children and thus grow a gen- 
eration free from the shackles of superstition, and in 
league with the law of perfect liberty. Moses grew 
up in Pharaoh's palace, but his mother was with him. 

Get the committees to work. Do not do what you 
can get others to do. Christ made the Jews roll 
away the stone from the sepulchre. He is not the 
greatest pastor who can do the most work, but he is 
who can set the most people to work. When you 
get a man to do something for God,,he finds out, that 
co-working with the Divine, causes God to do some- 
thing for him. The sovereign preventive of apostasy 
is work. ' ' Flying fowls are never caught in the 
fowler's snare." 

May it not be a mistake to put only opulent men in 
the Steward's, Elder's, or Warden's office? The 
Divine life may be sacrificed to easy finances. Pla- 
cing a miserly man into the stewardship is as oppos- 
ed to "the eternal fitness of things " as putting a 
horned frog in a silken purse. He may keep things in 
a stew — but he is not "serving tables" in a lunch- 
house. The tables he is to serve are written over 
with lessons of liberality. A Church is not strong in 
proportion to the heavy men it carries, or that carry 
it, but by the consecration of its members. Mites 
are mighty. The widow gave two. It takes two 
pieces of money to make a collection. God makes 
us pay the expense of His Kingdom for our good, 
not because he needs us. He allows the miseries of 
some that the graces of others may find exercise in 
sympathy and relief The evangelizing of the world 



DEVOTIONAL GIVING. 67 

and the consecration of the church keep equal step. 
Christ stripped Himself and presented His poverty in 
His beggared poor that we may be enriched in miti- 
gating their wants and woes. Pearls are the pro- 
ducts of pain. Rainbows spring from showers. 
The jewels of character are the crystals of suffering. 
God is glorified and saints are sanctified by our com- 
passion and brotherly care for the weak and woeful. 
" For the administration of this service not only sup- 
plieth the want of the saints, but is abundant through 
many thanksgivings to God." 

Let us not measure a brother simply by his collec- 
tions. In physics the man who can lift the most 
pounds is the strongest man, but in psychics he who 
lifts all he can ranks with him who has lifted most. 
Be not discouraged withal, dutiful, but delinquent 
brother; for, if you have done what you could, ye 
shall not lose your reward. 

I have heard of a girl who was married to her hus- 
band on the morning he went to war. With only a 
few hours instruction, he left her to look after all his 
business, and he had great estates. After the lapse 
of four years he returned. The greeting over, she 
could not rest until she rendered an account of her 
stewardship. When she had concluded her showing, 
he looked lovingly upon his faithful spouse and ten- 
derly said: " Jennie, I could not have done it better 
myself." She threw her arms about his neck and 
wept for joy at this approval. Do your best and the 
Master will say, ' ' I could not have done better than 
my best, myself." St. Paul was as truly Apostolic 



68 . WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

when stoned by a mob at Lystra as when the Ephe- 
sian eiders fell on his neck and kissed him a final 
farewell. 

Christian brother; if you are a minister, feel that 
you are never more at the post of duty and faithful 
to your trust than when exhorting your people to 
give of their abundance and ability to promote the 
cause of God and humanity. You will make no 
mistake in teaching that more people will be damned 
for robbing God, than for any other crime. "Chari- 
ty giveth itself rich, but covetousness hoards itself 
poor." Manna stored, rotted and bred worms; pot- 
ted in the ark, it remained savory and sweet. What 
do our clean ledgers look like to that Eye which 
reads between the lines? What does heaven's "clear- 
ing-house" think of these neat balances? I'd rather 
be a mendicant monk than a miserly millionaire. I 
was, in my early ministry, at a missionary meeting 
in Arkansas. Dr. John B. McFerrin was there, rep- 
resenting the varied interests of the Southern Meth- 
odist Church. He pressed the claims of missions 
with the impetuosity of a cavalry charge. After one 
of his keenest thrusts, a man spoke out in meeting 
and said: "I heard tell that when you died they'd 
write on your tombstone, ' The beggar died. ' ' 
Those backwoodsmen laughed, as only they could 
when their humor was touched. But McFerrin did 
not smile. There he stood, drawn up to his full 
height, looking every inch like a Comanche chief. 
His broad bosom billowed as if an earthquake be- 
neath was tossing restlessly on its lair of fire. Adown 



DEVOTIONAL GIVING. 69 

his bronzed cheek stole a flow of tears, racing - after 
each other like silvery bubbles on a mountain stream. 
His Indian-like eye kindled and glanced as if draw- 
ing a bead on the polished barrel of a rifle, ere he 
touched the trigger and sent the bullet whistling to 
its aim. His voice trembled like a split reed as he 
slowly asked, "And do you know what I told him?" 
The impressive attitude of the huge Tennesseean 
awed the audience into a profound hush, like that 
awful stillness which is the sure precursor of a 
coming storm, and which is more appalling than the 
dread reality it silently heralds. After another pause 
— a ' ' silence that oppressed with too great weight " — 
he resumed: ' T told them I would not care if they would 
write the whole sentence, 'And the beggar died, and 
was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom.'' 
You may imagine the effect. Money came in like a 
snow-storm, and a hundred stentors shouted, "Glory be 
to God," and all the people said "Amen." Oh, broth- 
er, at the judgment, when Jesus is telling yon about 
his being sick, hungry, imprisoned, and you are be- 
wildered when told, "ye ministered unto me, " and 
you tremblingly ask "When Lord?" — he will an- 
swer, "Why, when you pressed those collections for 
my representatives — the pagan, the poor man, the 
ignorant, the freeman." "Alms go upas a memori- 
al before God." You are looking for your stars in 
your crown of rejoicing to come out of the midst of 
your congregation. As the star arose out of Jacob 
they may come, many of them, out of India, and 
China, and Japan. God keeps on the trade of every 



70 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

dollar. His ledger is kept on the double-entry sys- 
tem. He will credit the cheerful giver and the cheer- 
ful collector. 

"These deeds shall thy memorial be, 
When to those skies He welcomes thee." 

Some widow's prayer, some poor man's blessing, 
will be of more worth to you than a ribbon of 
knighthood now. Why, then, be ashamed to collect 
for Christ? If the elders and stewards see you shame- 
faced in asking for your Lord's taxes, the reflex in- 
fluence on you will be bad. If you want them to 
gather your salary, show them how to do it by your 
efficiency and diligence in collecting what is commit- 
ted to you. Be an example unto your flock. Give 
and you'll get. Give of "your poverty" that they 
may of ''their abundance." When the pump doesn't 
work, you pour in a cupful of water to bring up 
more. The preacher who does not give himself, and 
of his means to Christ's cause, fires blank cartridges 
from his pulpit. ' ' Trust in God and keep your pow- 
der dry, "but don't always be drying your powder. 
Fire by file and flank, picket and platoon, battalion 
and battery, with shrapnel and shell, grenades and 
grape, chain and canister. Aim low. Strike the femo- 
ral artery. Bore the pocket-book, until it bleeds 
arterial blood. Wound to heal. Kill to make alive. 
Impoverish to enrich. Lose to save. Watch for 
opportunity. Bring the shivering niggards in out of 
the cold, to warm at the ruddy hearth of benevolence. 
Mine for mammoths in Siberia as w r ell as hunt for 
elephants in equatorial forests. Use a boomerang. 



DEVOTIONAL GIVING. 71 

Hit behind a tree. Let not the curving arrow re- 
turn to wound the hand that cast it. 

Let a preacher scorn to whimper when called to 
raise money for a good cause. Cower not before ig- 
norant domination and blind unbelief. Do not cater 
to stinginess. Paul made Felix tremble on his trib- 
une seat as he reasoned of "judgment to come." 
Disdain his black-mail. See that you do not tremble 
before Felix asleep in the pew. You are God's col- 
lecting steward. Show your sheriff staff. Take the 
miserly shirk by the throat and say, ' ' Pay me 
that thou owest." 

Lately Christendom grew indignant at England 
because she abandoned Gordon to his fate. Secre- 
tary Chandler suffered because of tardiness in the re- 
lief of Greely. Fitz-John Porter was cashiered for a 
single disobedience. The country became impatient 
at the delayed restoration of General Grant to his 
former military rank. And will we stand tamely by 
and hear suggestions to abandon our missionaries 
and our pioneers, or to recall them, on the very eve 
of great results? Shall the church be less mindful 
than the world of its heroes ? Is there a brother 
timid in impleading these collections? What, will- 
ing to exhaust Heaven of its riches and unwilling to 
ask the purchase of Christ's blood for means with 
which to send the glad tidings to others ! Will you 
hear your people pray in song, 

" O, for a thousand tongues to sing 

My great Redeemer's praise; 
The glories of my God and King, 

The triumphs of His grace "— 



72 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

and not ask them for dollars to set ten thousand 
tongues singing: 

"All hail the power of Jesus's name." 

Will you ask God to give the ' ' heathen for an in- 
heritance, " etc., and timidly shrink from asking a 
Church shirk for the cost of a Bible to give an Idol- 
ator? The way to ask God for the heathen is with 
cash-down prayer. Do not allow the casuist to per- 
plex you with the question, ' ' Will the heathen be 
saved?" Hold him to this conscience probe, "Can 
you be saved if you refuse to send the Gospel to the 
heathen?" Bishop Marvin used to preach a sermon 
in which he compared some christians to an ear of 
corn, which, when husked, showed no perfect grain, 
though outwardly fair and fat. Dining with a farmer 
after preaching, his host said: "Bishop, I fear I'm 
like one of those ears of corn of which you spoke; 
but don't you think I maybe saved?" The reply 
was, "Would you crib such corn as that?" Such nub- 
bins do not "shell out." 

To the younger brethren we would say, begin to 
perform all your duties at once. Let no man despise 
your youth. Early victories will secure a series of 
successes, while youthful defeats are apt to repeat 
themselves, and finally muster you out of service. 
Make duty your talisman. Wait not for future fields 
or friends. Make yourself conspicuously useful in 
a small place and you will be invited to a larger. As 
"nothing succeeds like success," so no man will have 
so many friends as he who shows his capacity to do 
without any. Go where sent. Nineveh is better 



DEVOTIONAL GIVING. 73 

than the whale's beiiy. Be loyal to the Church. 
Tell your troubles to God. ' ' Faint heart never won 
fair lady" nor anything else. Earn your salary. Do 
not be afraid of mistakes. ' ' The man who never 
made a mistake, never made anything." Don't let 
insolence deter you from doing your best. If peo- 
ple get mad because pressed to do what the Church 
commands and they have promised to do, and leave 
the Church, let them go. Sometimes it is a revival 
when people leave, as when they join. Gideon was 
stronger when the cowards were mustered out than 
before. An army is no . stronger than its fighting 
men. A pay roll is not a roster. Daniel was never 
safer than when in the lions' den. God needs no 
patrons. Church "bummers" are in the way. 
Weave no nets to catch silly flies. Raid the gardens 
if you would have honey in your hive. Spiders gath- 
er poison, where bees load their loins with golden 
sweets. The man that has done nothing at thirty 
will have nothing done for him. Jesus cried "it is 
finished" at thirty-three. Promotion in the militant 
church is won on the field. If you reach the "land 
of corn and wine" you must struggle through the 
Slough of Despond, and pass the castle of Giant 
Despair. Heaven's border-land lies this side of the 
River of Death. "Well done" will make you for- 
get the trials by the way. As in the Tower of Lon- 
don battered armor is of more interest than the 
crown-jewels, so, in heaven, the spear-indented pano- 
ply will do you more honor than royal regalia. Be 
sure you are right — and then go ahead. Run over 



74 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

no man unless he is in your way. Thread-bare 
knees need not mortify you. Run not all to brain. 
Develop your feet. Have a good understanding. 
A preacher must have it in his heels or head. Better 
have it in both. A big head needs a broad sole. 
Work and win. Fight and feast. Hold- no parley 
with Sanballat. Be too busy doing the work on the 
wall to come down. Remember you must advance 
the standards. The mantles of the fathers will not 
fall on you. Your shoulders must' be too broad to 
wear them. Spread yourselves. 

" Rouse to this work of high and holy love, 
And thou an angel's happiness shalt know : 
Shalt bless the world;while in the world above, 
The good begun by thee shall onward flow, 
In many a branching stream, and wider grow. 
The seed that in these few and fleeting hours, 
Thy hands unsparing and unwearied sow, 
Shall deck thy grave with amaranthine flowers 
And yield the fruits divine in heaven's immortal bowers." 

The point is, that giving is a means of grace, and as 
such is entitled to a place in public worship, with 
equality of rank, as an element of devotional service, 
with praise and prayer and preaching. Fortunately 
the alliteration holds with the alignment — praying, 
praising, paying. 

It has been the uniform testimony that those 
churches that have provided for their expenses by en- 
dowment have declined, while those that have relied 
upon voluntary contributions to pay current costs 
have prospered — even when placed side by side in the 
same community as rivals for pre-eminence. The 
author knows of a minister who, being rich, refused a 
salary, and only asked his people for money to pay the 



DEVOTIONAL GIVING. 75 

incidental expenses of his parish, who, being called to 
another field, had the grief to witness the indisposi- 
tion of a large and wealthy congregation to pay the 
Rector, while a comparatively small and indigent 
Methodist congregation on the next block found no 
difficulty in paying its preacher a salary twice as large. 
It does the people good to pay and give. Even if the 
necessities require no stated collections, they should 
be taken for disciplinary and gracious influence upon 
the congregation. In truth, giving is about the only 
religious act many people perform. All are familiar 
with the story of the wrecked mariners who, in pros- 
pect of impending death, wanted to perform some 
religious act. Neither of the party could pray, nor 
preach, nor praise, and they seemed in a dilemma, when 
one more devout than wise fellow proposed a collec- 
tion. In prospect of eternity each gave his all, and to 
their credit, it is said, when rescued, they adhered to 
it as a thank-offering for their deliverance. Why 
should not a man expect and receive a blessing who 
is able to say as he gives his money. "O, Lord, here 
goes for Thy cause this bill. I could spend it for the 
gratification of my flesh, or hoard it as a solace to my 
covetousness; but I put my native avarice under foot, 
and give it, sacrificially, unto Thee. Wilt Thou re- 
ceive and bless it, to the glory of Thy name, and my 
good, Thy unworthy servant who is so loth to return 
unto Thee that which is so clearly Thine own." 

Such a man, giving and praying thus, will be 
''blessed in the deed." But prayer and love should 
go with every gift to make it a devout offering. It 



76 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

must not be tendered to be seen of men, but to be 
blessed of God. Millions would pour into the church's 
treasury if money could purchase salvation. But 
there is no saving merit in giving. Yet there is duty, 
and there is no salvation where this is neglected. 
"A man should fear when he enjoys only what good 
he does publicly. Is it not the publicity rather than 
the charity that he loves? " Still the christian must 
be an example — let his light shine. Silver and gold 
shine. While he must not pray to-be heard of men, 
men must hear him pray. While he does not give 
to be seen of men, men must see him give. The 
main thing is to secure the benevolent nature. It 
may be trusted for beneficent practice. Benevolence 
is based on love and is essential to christian charac- 
ter. A miserly christian is a misnomer. If a man 
is a christian he is not a miser; if he is a miser he is 
not a christian. God and Mammon are not at- one, 
and the two never walk together because they do not 
agree. As "out of the abundance of the heart the 
mouth speaketh," so, out of the abundance of the 
heart the hand giveth. 

A collection has always been a part of divine wor- 
ship. The Sabbath and the thank-offering went to- 
gether from time immemorial. Says one: "Giving is 
a part of natural religion; it has been held a duty from 
the beginning, and as such has been observed by 
men of all colors, and habits, and times, and in all 
quarters of the globe." It is not peculiar to the chris- 
tian system, nor is it enjoyed alone under revelation. 
Classical writers tell us that it was the custom amon? 



DEVOTIONAL GIVING. 77 

the people to consecrate thank-offerings to the gods. 
As soon as the harvest was gathered they offered 
their libations. They held their fields and cities as 
gifts from the gods, and they consecrated a part for 
temples and shrines, where they might worship them. 
Unclassical heathens, as the aborigines of this coun- 
try, were not unschooled in the doctrine of offerings. 
Those who are troubled about the contribution plate 
need to cease to regard it as an impertinent intrusion 
and to look on giving as a gracious element of the 
service. If we give with a devout spirit we will get 
more out of the plate than we put in it. We are not 
to appear "empty before the Lord." "Of thine 
own have w r e given thee." " What shall I render un- 
to the Lord for all his benefits?" is the question of 
grateful love. Every one should come to the House 
of God with some offering ' ' as God has prospered 
him," and not to meet the paltry demands of a pen- 
ny collection. The sense of the meeting ought not 
to be taken in cents. There seems to be an incon- 
gruity in copper-bottoming silver plates. Many peo- 
ple select not only the smallest but the most imper- 
fect coin to give. If there is one with a hole in it 
that is cast in, and the man who does it w r ould put in 
the hole and keep the coin if he could. God requires 
the best for his altar. The following -dialogue, though 
simple, is illustrative: 

A little girl's brother said to her, "Where's your 
money? There will be a collection to-day." 

She went to get her pocket-book. ' ' I have two 
silver ten cents and a paper one." 



78 



WEALTH AND WORKMEN,, 



Her brother said * " A tenth of that is three cents. " 

' ' But three cents is such a stingy little bit to give. 
I shall give this ten cents. You see I would have 
had more here only I spent some for myself last week ; 
it would not be fair to take a tenth of what is left, 
after I have used all I wanted." 

" Why don't you give the paper ten cents? The 
silver ones are prettier to keep." 

"So they are prettier to give. Paper ten cents 
looks so dirty and shabby. No, I'll give good things." 

So she put one dime in her pocket, when some one 
said : * ' I hope we can raise that three hundred dol- 
lars for home missions to-day." Then the little girl 
gave a groan, "Oh, is this home mission day? 
Then that other ten cents must go." And she 
went to get it with another doleful groan. 

I said, "If you feel so distressed about it, why 
do you give it?" "Oh, because I made up my 
mind to always give twice as much to home missions 
as anything else, and I shall stick to what I made up 
my mind to." 

From this some one drew the following deductions : 

1. We should deal honestly with God in giving. 
"It is not fair, " said the little girl/ 'to count your 
tenth after you have used all you wanted." 

2. We should deal liberally in giving. If the fair 
tenth is a petty sum, let us go beyond it and give more. 

3. Let us give our best things. That which is 
the nicest to keep is also the nicest to give away. 

4. Let us give until we feeL it 



DEVOTIONAL GIVING. 79 

Raise giving to the level of devotion, and let the 
amount be weekly according to the measure of every 
man's prosperity, and the world would be won for 
Christ in a single generation. Business and worship 
would be married. "What of my gains belong to 
the Lord?" would be a question to be determined as 
preliminary to public worship. God would be recog- 
nized as a partner — silent, but supplying the capital 
of the firm. Men would gladden in business suc- 
cesses because of the enlarged ability they gave for 
divine services. Then the rattle of money on the 
plate would be as rhythmic to the ear of devotion as 
the organ peal, or sacred hymn. Said one little girl 
to another, ' ' When you put your money in the box 
at the Sunday School do you give it as though you put 
it in Jesus' hand? " 

Hugh Miller wrote: "All mysteries meet in this, 
the deepest mystery of devotion is that mortal man can 
give to the Eternal Lord, and have his gift accepted. " 

Itis"thealtarthatsanctifieththegift."(Matt. 23: 19.) 

Said Goethe : ' ' He is not half himself who has not 
seen the Juno in the Rondanini Palace at Rome." 
So, one who has never felt the luxury of giving to a 
noble object, from a motive of love to Christ, knows 
not to what race he belongs and his capacity to be 
happy. 

"The quality of mercy is not strain'd; 
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven, 
Upon the place beneath. It is twice bless'd: 
It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes. 
Tis mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes 
The throned monarch better than his crown; 
It is enthroned on the heart of Kings, 
It is an attribute of God Himself." 



80 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

CHAPTER V. 

THE GOSPEL OF GOOD WILL. 

Christian benevolence is a matter of moral obliga- 
tion, and the performance of it is the test of christian 
character. "Ye shall know them by their fruits." 
A grasping, miserly man can no more be a christian 
than Christ could be a Savior if void of good-will 
toward men. Spots there are on the sun, but the 
proof that it is a luminous body is that it shines. 
Defects there may be in a christian character, but if 
the light shines the soul is not in darkness. Fra- 
grance tells of the presence of flowers, even in the 
night. The aroma of good deeds is an unmistakable 
exponent of a gracious spirit. There is such a thing 
as financial piety. To honor God with our substance 
is great proof of our devotion. Giving puts us in 
harmony with God, angels and nature. Says Bishop 
Thomson, "God has made one thing to correspond 
with another, as sound to the ear, and the ear to 
sound. When a proper relation subsists between 
corresponding objects, there is order, and if the parts 
be sensitive, happiness. Providence has made intel- 
ligence for ignorance, and wealth for poverty, and 
health for sickness, and cheerfulness for discourage- 
ment; and in this world it is only when they are 
brought together that we have harmony. Moreover, 
nature is made upon a certain plan, and it is only by 
putting ourselves in the channels of her laws that we 



THE GOSPEL OF GOOD WILL. 81 

can glide smoothly through the world. And what is 
the plan of nature? Giving! The sun gives its rays 
constantly, generously, joyously; the ocean gives its 
vapors to the skies; the skies give their rain to the 
earth; the earth warms and waters each seed within 
her bosom, and sends it up in greenness and richness, 
and nourishes and cherishes it, that it may give bread 
to the eater. The animals give their strength and 
swiftness to man, or lay down their lives for his sake. 
If the sun, or ocean, or air, or earth, were to turn 
miser, universal death would ensue. Salvation, too, 
is upon the plan of giving. God gives His Son, 
Christ gives His life, and saints give themselves; and 
thus opposite characters are brought together and 
made mutual benefactors; for, while the sinner is 
saved, the saint has a new diadem placed upon his 
brow, and a new joy planted in his breast. The 
parts of a physical universe are held together by a 
series of attractions, cohering similar particles ; chem- 
ical affinity, dissimilar ones; and gravitation holding 
the planets in their spheres. If any one of these 
attractions were to fail, the world would crumble 
down, the universe fall to pieces. The disorders of 
the human race are all owing to the loss of moral 
attractions to each other and to God; the harmony 
and happiness of the race can be restored only by 
the recovery of the lost attractions." 

For the exquisite beauty of its language, at the risk 
of repeating the idea, we quote the Rev. H. C. Mor- 
rison, D. D.: "Nature's unselfishness is beautiful 
and divine. Not a sunbeam that burns of itself, a 



82 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

rain-drop that falls, a flower that blooms, a bird that 
sings, a streamlet that flows, or even so much as a 
dew-drop that distills for itself, in all the vast realm. 
Nor is there a single reserve in the entire sphere, but 
one perpetual and happy effort of everything to give 
itself away. 

" ' So, the one great work of life, the one enterprise 
of the soul, in this world, is to succeed in giving 
itself away. And God is trying to teach us this great 
lesson every day — trying to shine it into the soul 
with sunbeams, and sing it in with bird-songs, and 
breathe it in with the breath of the flowers ; and hap- 
py is he who learns the lesson. The happiest man 
you ever saw was the man who was giving himself 
most completely away. The happy pair are those 
wholly given to each other. The happiest home is 
that in which every member of the circle is wholly 
given away to all the rest. And the happiest church 
on earth (would that we might find it) is the one in 
which every member is loving and seeking the good 
of all the rest. There is no true happiness until we 
get free from self. And the best way, and about the 
only way, to get clear of self is to give it away, or 
work it to death for others. And the man who reaches 
this enviable position, shown us in nature, in which 
he is wholly given to God and his fellow men, loving 
God supremely, and his neighbor as himself, with no 
reverses whatever." 

Money is latent force. Good and evil seek to 
develop and apply it. It is a homely adage, " Money 
makes the mare go." It makes everything go. It 



THE GOSPEL OF GOOD WILL. 83 

sends evil on its errand. It wings the angels of 
mercy. It makes the gospel "go into all the world." 
The song of Celestial Choristers is, " Worthy is the 
lamb that was slain to receive power and riches" etc. 

The Cross is the magnet designed to draw out all 
the forces of life. Touched by its subtile power men 
feel inclined to be " workers together with him" — 
Christ. In European morgues a delicate electric 
instrument is so applied to a human body as to give 
the signal, by ringing a bell, if in it the slightest life 
should linger. The soul is hopelessly dead when the 
magnetism of the Cross can strike no signal of life. 
When this motive fails, it is the expression of the 
exhaustion of moral motor power. 

When a man, touched and thrilled by the attrac- 
tion of the Cross, lays his money on the altar as an 
offering of responsive love, he puts there, with it, that 
which money can command. There are education, 
talent, genius, devotion, waiting for means. Until 
these are furnished, they must wait. Money cuts the 
cord and sends the evangel a-flying. It is a sublime 
thing, an exalted privilege, to be able to change 
money into educated intelligence, into divinized na- 
tures. One of the finest generalizations of science 
finds its technical expression in such terms as the 
"correlation, or transmutation, of forces." Motion 
is transformed into heat, light into electricity. These 
forces are transmuted into one or all of the others. 
Men take money, made by brawn and muscle, and 
convert it into machinery, vastly increasing the power 
of labor, and of monetary returns. So men take 



84 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

gold, and put it into education, and ignorance and sup- 
erstition fly as mists before a rising sun; they put it 
into philanthropy, and the wants and woes of society 
are mitigated and frowns are turned into smiles, 
lamentation into laughter, pain into ease, and despair 
into hope; they put it into religious endeavor, and 
moral wastes that breed only contagion and death, 
become fruitful and blossom as the rose, while peace 
and plenty smile on homes and hearts. You are not 
an orator, but your money voices the silver-tongue 
of some Whitefield, or opens the golden mouth of 
some Chrysostom. You are not gifted with the graces 
that fit you for a representative philanthropist, but 
your gifts wing the feet of missionaries of mercy on 
their embassies of love. You are no scholar, but the 
fruit of your toil throws the light of genius and grace 
on the sacred page, or raises up and supports some 
son of learning to buttress the defenses of our holy 
faith. You are tethered to your occupation and 
locality, but your means spread the sails of the mis- 
sionary ship. 

Giving your money for christian education, you are 
as surely teaching as if you were the oracular Profes- 
sor from whose lips, on listening pupils, fall the 
words of wisdom. Giving for foreign missions, you 
are as certainly preaching the unsearchable riches of 
Christ on the banks of the Ganges, or in the valley 
of the Congo, as if you were a Thoburn or a Taylor. 

The Church is a society organized for the conver- 
sion of the world. If you are a dutiful member of it, 
doing cheerfully of your ability, whatever is done by 



THE GOSPEL OF GOOD WILL. 85 

it is done by you. The Church goes into all the 
world preaching the Gospel, and you, as a member 
of the body of Christ, are with it wherever it unfurls 
its banner of the Cross, and proclaims the message 
of salvation. 

American citizenship is represented in the humblest 
man as well as in the President. The republic would 
go to war, and spend its treasure of money, and 
valor of men, to the exhaustion of both, to vindicate 
your rights if invaded by a foreign power. He who 
is enfranchised by faith, so as to become a fellow- 
citizen with the saints and of the household of God, 
shares in all the dignities and honors of the kingdom. 
The smallest deed he does of duty, if it be the most 
he can do, entitles him to all the privileges and 
graces of the Society as much as if he were endowed 
with miraculous gifts. The mere fact of spiritual 
membership crowns the humblest a King and conse- 
crates him as a Priest. What he suffers is the en- 
tail of all. Wherein he is honored is the heritage of 
the whole and of each. It is Christ's merits that 
have made him priestly and royal. The mind that 
is in him is the mind that was in Christ. He is a 
partaker of the Divine nature and nothing can mini- 
fy the godly. He knows he has passed from death 
unto life by the token of brotherly love that burns in 
and blazons on his breast. His possessions are all 
held subject to the common call of the needs of the 
brotherhood. As all hold the sun and air without 
the possibility of a preemption, so all possess a 
coparcenary, community interest in the stock of the 



86 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

Company — of the assembly (ecclesid), — of the Church. 
In every necessitous brother he sees a representative 
of the adorable Savior, and to aid him, is to minister 
to the blessed Lord. Now what is the object of this 
christian, close corporation? It- must have an object 
commensurate with the sacred nature of its ties and 
obligations. Jesus died for the sole purpose of re- 
deeming souls from sin and death. To publish 
this fact is the only motive adequate to an organiza- 
tion so sublime as to be the Body of- Christ. Becom- 
ing a member of the Church is not, therefore, for the 
sole and selfish purpose of securing personal salva- 
tion ; but the grand object is to demonstrate the valid- 
ity of saving grace on the individual soul, by making 
it a loving impulse and heroic consecration for the 
salvation of others. "The first drop of grace let 
fall upon a human heart makes it a witnessing heart; 
it cries out, ' draw near, all ye that love God, and I 
will tell you what he hath done for my soul;' and. the 
next drop makes it a missionary heart, crying out, ' I 
have a great heaviness and continual sorrow in my 
heart for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the 
flesh;' and the third drop, methinks, makes it a 
martyr heart, crying out, ' I could wish myself ac- 
cursed for Christ — I could be crucified as was Christ, 
if by dying I could lead my fellowmen to God. ' But 
the christian need not open his heart; let him but 
open his mouth, and forth will come the proof of his 
high calling ; for he will, if he pray according to the 
Savior's model, say, ' Thy Kingdom come, Thy will 
be done in earth as it is in Heaven,' and then do 



THE GOSPEL OF GOOD WILL. 87 

something to make it come. He will testify that he 
is apprehended to emulate the angels, to endeavor to 
spread around the globe the happiness, the obedience, 
and the anthems of the skies." (Dr. Edward 
Thomson.) 

Now comes in that higher law of proprietorship 
than rests, merely, on Creation and Preservation — 
namely: Redemption. The bond is now a triple 
one. But the red seals on it give it the greatest 
significance. "What, know ye not your body is the 
temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which 
ye have of God, and ye are not your own ? For ye 
are bought with a price : therefore glorify God in 
your body and in your spirit, which are God's." 
(I Cor. vi: 19, 20.) Bought with the precious blood 
of Christ, there is no service too great to per- 
form in grateful love for Him who "loved me and 
gave Himself for me." As Christ made no reserva- 
tion in His redemption, but "emptied Himself," so 
the disciple is to hold back nothing. He must be 
willing to forsake all that he hath for Christ, if it is 
required of him. The Apostle, in enjoining liberal- 
ity on the Corinthian Church, says: "For ye know 
the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He 
was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that 
ye through His poverty might be rich." (2 Cor. viii: 9.) 
The grand motive does not spring from mere sympa- 
thy for the spiritually ignorant, or physically afflicted, 
and has no source in the mere feelings. It has its 
seat in Christ's mastership over us. He commands. 
Our duty is prompt and cheerful obedience. Nothing 



88 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

we can do is great when compared with what He has 
done for us. No matter how rich we may be, 
or we may impoverish ourselves to make others 
rich, what is our sacrifice when compared with His 
pauperizing Himself that we might have everlast- 
ing life ? 

" I gave my life for thee ; 
What hast thou done for Me ? " 

All we may have done, though all we could do, seems 
so small that if we were to try to 'tell it the tongue 
would falter and fail. ' 'A consecrated heart is a motor 
for all christian work. Your gun is well enough, but 
your gun-carriage is rickety, and so unfit for the Lord's 
battery. The Lord give us all a higher, deeper, 
broader life ! We cannot do much towards saving 
others until we ourselves are most surely saved. We 
are enchristing as we are Christly. We cannot pull 
others out of the surf when our own feet are slipping 
on the rock. More purity, more faith, more conse- 
cration, will be more momentum." 

Says Charnock, "The more believers love God, 
the more they love one another; and, as the lines of 
a circle, the nearer they come to the centre the nearer 
they come to each other." Doing right is sometimes 
a great help in getting and keeping right. As Miss 
Mulock observes, " When faith and hope fail as they 
do sometimes, we must try charity, which is love in 
action. We must speculate no more on our duty, 
but simply do it. When we have done it, however 
blindly, perhaps heaven will show us why." 



THE GOSPEL OF GOOD WILL. 89 

"There is a very just impatience with that sort 
of religion which employs itself exclusively with 
personal salvation and declines to lift a finger for the 
salvation of others." 

' Help us to help each other, Lord ; 
Each other's cross to bear. 
Let each his friendly aid afford, 
And feel his brother's care. 
Help us to build each other up, 
Our little stock improve. 
Increase our faith, confirm our hope, 
And perfect us in love." 

No test of the genuineness of our religion is truer 
than the good-will we find ourselves cherishing for 
others — the debt we feel that we owe to every good 
cause — the feeling that we are stewards of God, and, 
in that, trustees for our needy neighbors. Once get 
the principle of Divine ownership and human steward- 
ship anchored in the heart and the particular appli- 
cation of it, to specific cases, can be trusted to the 
individual. "It is the motive that makes the gift 
precious, in the grateful love that lays it at the Lord's 
feet once pierced to save us; in the wondering joy 
that thrills through the heart that God should accept 
anything at our hands." (Therold.) 

Here are the two great facts — i. God owns every- 
thing, and in requiring of us only exacts what 
belongs to him. 

2. We are stewards of God's treasury and almo- 
ners of His bounty, as we are dependents of His 
grace; and when giving to promote the cause of 
religion and benevolence, we are simply performing a 
duty. But it has pleased God to connect with these 



90 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

facts a gracious provision, namely — the more we give 
the more we will get, the more we do the more we 
will be able to do. The surest way to prosperity is 
conformity to the divine law of giving. In this respect 
to lose is to find, to scatter abroad is to increase, to 
withhold more than is meet tendeth to poverty. The 
last meal baked for a hungry prophet filled Sarepta's 
barrel. The waning oil put into his cake resupplied 
her cruse. When Christ fed the hungry multitude 
the remnant fragments were much more than the 
original stock. If He requires your five loaves and 
two little fishes, it is to restore more than he took. 
Many a man's liberality has contributed to his pros- 
perity ; many a man has recovered from bankruptcy 
by reason of previous generosity. " God is not un- 
righteous to forget your work and labor of love, 
which ye have showed towards his name, in that ye 
have ministered to the saints, and do minister." 
(Heb. vi: 10.) "He that hath pity upon the poor 
lendeth unto the Lord; and that which he hath given 
will He pay him again." (Prov. xix : 17.) "Blessed 
is he than considereth the poor: the Lord will deliver 
him in time of trouble." (Ps. xli: 1.) A New York 
broker gave, in the days of his prosperity, to the 
South in its adversity. By reason of the defalcation 
of another he lost his fortune. The new industrial 
South remembered his munificence and put its stocks 
into his hands for sale, and his commissions on large 
transactions put him, in the space of three years, 
firmly on his feet again. ' ' Good will to men " secures 
the good will of men. 



THE SUPPORT OF THE MINISTRY. 91 



CHAPTER VI. 
THE SUPPORT OF THE MINISTRY. 

It is mournfully apparent that many regard the 
support of the ministry as based upon charity, and 
not upon obligation, and, hence, they give as inclined, 
instead of paying as their duty. Such a view puts 
the minister in the attitude of a mendicant, and the 
contributor, of a gracious alms-giver. The minister 
must be grateful to the voluntary donor for alms be- 
stowed, and the member assumes the self-satisfied 
air of a condescending patron. It is common to hear 
people boast of what they give to the minister, and 
berating others for their failure to be generous. 
Financial officers will go around collecting, with the 
question — "How much will you give the preacher?" 
If words are the signs of ideas, then our speech be- 
trays the popular notion — namely, the ministry is 
supported by the alms of the community. 

The support of the ministry rests upon the highest 
grounds of obligation — (i) natural right and (2) 
Divine enactment. It is a principle in political econ- 
omy that whoever performs a useful labor is entitled 
to pay. "The laborer is worthy of his hire" not of 
alms. He is to be compensated for services rendered, 
and not patronized as a mendicant, or object of char- 
ity. No right-feeling man will despise a gift which 
is prompted by appreciation, and that is over and 



92 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

above, or outside of obligation ; neither will he take 
one in lieu of the right. Wages, not alms, is the 
right of the preacher. On the economic basis which 
determines the law of obligation in the distribution 
of labor, the Preacher stands with the Lawyer, the 
Doctor, the Mechanic and the Laborer. But his 
claim rests upon the higher ground of special divine 
prescription. "And is this the rule of man, or is it 
not also the law of God?" "For it is written in 
the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth 
of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God 
take care for oxen ? Or saith he it altogether for 
our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written." 
(I Cor. ix: 9.) 

If dumb brutes earn their provender, under the dic- 
tation and demands of a natural law, is the minister 
to be denied his food, under a like obligation, and 
only to receive support on the ground of an elective 
charity? Nay: verily, he is to receive his pay upon 
this ground, and the superadded one of specific, 
divine law. His claim is not left to rest solely upon 
economic equities, but is strengthened by buttressing 
it with a divine law. In this respect it has its analogy 
in the constitutional provision made for the payment 
of the salary of a public officer, which even the legis- 
lature cannot annul, or abate. The State owes its 
servant a debt. He is not a pensioner upon the pub- 
lic bounty. He is called by the supreme power 
to office. 

The preacher's claim rests upon the organic law of 
God, which custom nor churches can repeal nor 



THE SUPPORT OF THE MINISTRY. 93 

diminish. Among the Jews, living under a Theo- 
cratic government, ' ' they which ministered about 
holy things" were supported by a systematic and 
definite assessment upon the income of the people — 
the tenth of the products of herd and fold, of vine- 
yard and field. Nor could a Jew select his sprained 
and knock-kneed cattle and sheep, his tainted 
meats, his sour preserves, and his gnarled wood, 
or even make a conglomerate of his good and bad 
animals, and fruits and fuel,' but he was required to 
pay his levy in the best that he had. ' ' All the best 
of the oil, of the wine, and of the wheat, the first 
fruits of them which they shall offer unto the Lord, 
them have I given thee." (Num. xviii : 12.) 

They were not to wait until the market was glutted 
and when prices were depressed, to turn in what they 
could not sell, but the "first fruits" belonged to the 
Temple. Their ability, in the case, was what the 
Lord had given them, and out of this, as stewards of 
the divine bounty, they were to pay their ministry. 
' * Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which 
preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel." The 
salary of a minister is often properly spoken of as a 
claim, — "to be entitled to anything as a right." To 
discharge this, each member is required to pay ac- 
cording to his or her ability. There is laxity of 
discipline when a church is allowed to shirk the claim 
cf its pastor. Such looseness is protested by natural 
right, and by the divine law. A few are left to bear 
the burdens while the great majority of the members 
figure merely in the numerical statistics, and to the 






94 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

shame of the financial exhibits. Whatever liberality 
there may be in a few is credited to the whole, and 
the liberality of a few is discounted by pro-rating the 
gross amount to the many. It is a bad thing for a 
Church to depend upon a few " heavy men" to sup- 
port the minister. Every one should have a share 
in this. Some churches enjoy the reputation of be- 
ing liberal, when the truth is they get it through the 
liberality of a few wealthy members. They pay and 
give enough to lift the per capita up to an imposing 
amount, while the great bulk of the membership give 
but little or nothing. Let everybody pay something 
to the preacher. He works for all, let all support 
him — the rich with their shekels, the poor with their 
mites. All have a " claim" on the preacher. There 
should be no temptation for the few that pay, to feel 
that they have acquired the right to rule everything; 
or, on the other hand, that, having paid, there is 
nothing else for them to do. Men owe service as 
well as money. The cause of Christ will have gained 
much when all church-members acknowledge the duty 
to show as much consecration in their several spheres 
as they expect of their pastor. Let every one learn 
to exert himself to pay, give, and do everything for 
Christ that he can. Samuel Coley said : "If God 
made you for half-a-crown and He only gets a shill- 
ing out of you, He loses eighteen pence." The 
one talent must be made dividend-paying for the 
Lord, as well as the five or ten talents. Christians 
should regard every need in all the world as taking 
the shape of a personaL appeal to them. Unused 



THE SUPPORT OF THE MINISTRY. 95 

talent is buried, and buried will rust, and rust will 
eat the spiritual life out of the soul. "At ease in 
Zion " sometimes means being willing for others to 
pay the bills. It is the man faithful to little duties, 
as opportunity offers, that yields the vital example of 
human character, and gets for himself a fuller bless- 
ing than many an ostentatious and shouting professor 
of religion. If you grudge the mite you owe to the 
support of religion, you are as guilty of covetousness 
as if your debt were hundreds of shekels. Wishing 
well will not avail if you have the ability to do some- 
thing and fail to perform your duty. Says Dr. South: 
1 ' God never accepts a good inclination instead of a 
good action, where that action may be done ; nay, 
so much the contrary, that if a good inclination be 
not seconded by a good action, the want of that 
action is made so much the more criminal and 
inexcusable." 

When a few rich people are allowed to do all the 
paying, and a few poor people to do all the praying, 
and a large number of well-to-do people are allowed 
to do nothing, demoralization results in every direc- 
tion in which the lines of christian obligation run ; 
the authority of the church is flouted, religion is 
brought into contempt, and the "dead-heads " finally 
become church vagrants and tramps. Duty to the 
recreant requires the enforcement of the Bible rule 
that if any will not work neither shall they eat. The 
command is, "Go work to-day in my vineyard." 
Work, or the price of it, is required Of every one. 



96 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

To neglect paying is to cease working. The mission- 
ary must have money with which to go. ' ' How 
shall they preach except they be sent?" The min- 
ister must be provided with "the sinews of war." 
" Who goeth a warfare at his own charges?" 

A man does not value that which costs him noth- 
ing. Open your eyes and see if the busy workers 
in any Church are not those that are scrupulous con- 
cerning their obligations to support the institutions 
of religion. The liberal are the .healthy. "The 
liberal soul shall be made fat." "There is that which 
witholdeth more than is mete, but it tendeth to pov- 
erty." Who are the lean and lank souls of our 
Churches but they who withhold more than is mete? 
The strength of an army is often weakened by its 
camp-followers ; the carrying power of a ship is often 
diminished by the barnacles that cling to its hull. 
The Church needs a rear guard to look after ' ' bum- 
mers." It would be well for the "Old ship of Zion" 
to occasionally go into dock and scrape the cumber- 
ing parasites from her keel and sides. Vessels have 
struck and been wrecked by reason of shell-fish clus- 
tered on their keels. But for these cumbers weigh- 
ing down, the bark would have ridden the rock or 
reef in safety. Churches have pined or perished by 
reason of non-paying members. Get the church 
down to a cash basis and there will be but little dan- 
ger of spiritual bankruptcy. Despise not the labor- 
er's penny, nor the widow's mite. Whoever does 
the best he or she can do has done best. "If there 
be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that 



THE SUPPORT OF THE MINISTRY. 97 

a man nath, and not according to that he hath not." 
(II Cor. viii : 12.) 

Let the mites be carefully collected for the spiritual 
effect upon the donors, that all may feel that they 
have common stock in the concern. There is an 
intimate connection between paying and the enjoy- 
ment of religion. God cursed Israel for robbing him 
of tithes and offerings — for not supporting the 
priests (Deut. xxviii : 15); and it was only on condi- 
tion that they returned to duty and brought their 
assessments into the storehouse, that the windows of 
heaven were to be opened and the Divine blessing 
outpoured. (Mai. iii : 10.) Water if you would be 
watered again. As the rivers and the seas give back 
to the clouds, and these great water-carriers of the 
skies drop refreshing showers on all the earth and 
swell the floods of stream and sea, so does liberality 
go up before God and is returned, poured back upon 
the payer and giver in blessings so great as to over- 
flow the channels and basins of grace. "Sow spar- 
ingly, reap sparingly ; sow bountifully, reap bounti- 
fully. " "Take heed to thyself that thou forsake not 
the Levite (the preacher) as long as thou livest upon 
the earth." (Deut. xii : 19.) 

Those who make excuses for an inadequate sup- 
port of the ministry say (1) "The ministry should 
not be a lucrative calling. M It is not likely to be. 
There is in the prospect of a decent livelihood no 
temptation to cupidity. The best salaries paid Our 
preachers, when every thing is considered, do not 
furnish margin for the accumulation of wealth. If 



98 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

the minister, by wise providence and skillful finan- 
ciering, is able to save and lay up a reserve fund "for 
a rainy day, " for a possible season of infirmity, for 
the period of superannuation, who has a right to ob- 
ject? Would you have ministers objects of charity 
when no longer able to work, or when the grasshop- 
per is a burden ? Men who are ambitious for fortune 
are not likely to seek it by pursuing a vocation 
which, at its best estate, promises only a respectable 
subsistence, and requires the necessity of a studied 
frugality. 

(2.) They say "The minister has other resources. " 
Is it equitable to require him to pay for the privilege 
of serving you ? He is responsible to God for the 
use he makes of the means he has inherited, or ob- 
tained from other sources. Men do not refuse to 
pcy their Doctor, Lawyer, or Teacher, because he 
may happen to have an income independent of their 
profession. The merchant and the artizan are not 
subjected to any such privatory exactions. Why 
should the preacher be made an exception ? His 
family has the same claim to inherit as yours. Christ 
directed his Disciples to take with them on their 
journey neither purse nor scrip. They were not re- 
quired to pay the cost of their evangelistic travels. 
They were to be provided for by the hospitality of 
those whom they served. If you pay the minister 
his due, he must determine, under his measure and 
sense of responsibility, how he will dispose of any 
surplus at his command. "Thou shalt not defraud 
thy neighbor, neither rob him : the wages of him 



THE SUPPORT OF THE MINISTRY. 99 

that is hired shall not abide with thee all nierht until 
the morning." (Lev. xix : 13.) The minister is a 
hired man. ' ' The laborer is worthy of (is entitled to) 
his hire. " ' ' The hire of the laborers who have reaped 
down your fields, which is of you kept back by 
fraud, crieth : and the cries of them which have reaped 
are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth." 
(Jas. v: 4. ) ' 'Even so hath the Lord ordained that they 
which preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel " — 
should live on the pay they receive for preaching — 
as the Levitical priesthood lived upon "the things of 
the temple," and were " partakers with the Altar. " 
(I Cor. ix 14, 14.) "Let him that is taught in the 
word communicate unto Him that teacheth in 
all good things." (Gal. vi:6.). The minister is to 
share in the good things of his people. Among the 
people having abundance he is not to be put off with 
a bare subsistence, but they are to divide with him. 
(3.) Says another, "The minister lives better 
than I do." If there were any merit in this he could, 
upon the same ground, be required to live on the 
level with the most impoverished in his charge. The 
minister must be an example of hospitality. He 
must have raiment suited to his calling, books and 
periodicals, and these costs may not be entailed by 
your business. The only question worthy of those 
who enjoy his services is ' ' Does he, by diligence 
in his vocation, earn what the equities in the case 
require should be paid? " How many ministers have 
you known who have lived extravagantly ? 



100 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

(4.) "The minister has but little to do except to 
preach on Sundays. " No man has to serve a more 
privatory apprenticeship, or endure more laborious, 
body and mind-taxing lives than faithful pastors. 
Look at the years of study, entailing lieavy costs, 
required to fit them for the pulpit and pastorate. 
Think of the mental resources, inventiveness and in- 
dustry required to prepare several sermons and lec- 
tures, weekly, for delivery before an intelligent congre- 
gation, demanding versatility of genius, variety of 
theme, vivacity of ..style, beauty of imagery, wealth 
of illustration, tenderness of sympathy, strength of 
argument, closeness of analysis, pertinency of quota- 
tion, and the nicest discretion in the use of language. 
"What scholarship is needed, what familiarity with 
literature, history and current events, nature and 
men is required, "that the man of God may be 
thoroughly furnished to every good word and 
work!" Reflect upon the ceaseless round of -visits 
demanded, that be may cultivate the acquain- 
tance of his people, theliours of weary watching lie 
spends beside the beds of affliction, the racking 
anxiety he feels in the sick chamber that he may not 
hurt with a blundering good will when he means to 
heal, the tact demanded in communicating with, and 
in counseling the dying, the sympathy exacted of him 
for the bereaved, and, into whose sorrows lie cannot 
help entering, with what graciousness lie must bear 
himself toward children, and with what suavity of 
manner he must present himself to the public, how 
he must look after the poor, receive innumerable calls, 



THE SUPPORT OF THE MINISTRY. 101 

attend Boards and Committees and Prayer-meetings, 
Sabbath School, and social gatherings, and often, 
too, meet engagements on the platform in the inter- 
est of philanthrophy ami religion, and write for the 
public press. Consider, further, what spotlessness 
of character, what purity-and discretion of conduct 
are required of him. Can you candidly consider these 
outlines of a minister's endowments, duties and cares, 
and continue to berate" his calling by ranking him 
with, idlers of the market place, or with, even, gentle- 
men of leisure? No; the true minister is a hard 
worker, and earns, and is worthy of the wage 
paid him. 

(5 . ) ' ' The minister musti)e kept humble. ' ' This 
means, most often, that he must be kept abject in cir- 
cumstances and spirit: Who commissioned you to 
the cultivation of this grace in your preacher? If he 
is not duly humble from higher considerations, parsi- 
mony, on your part will not aid him to humility. 
It will more likely filL him with a- sense of resistance 
to, and of resentment of your injustice, and thus tend 
to discount his gracious disposition and efficiency. 
Let the preacher be pinched with poverty as the 
result of miserliness upon your part, and his just 
sense of indignation will result in a painful solicitude 
that will alloy and abate his best efforts. If God 
sees that he needs humiliation, he. will, not achieve it 
at the expense of your injustice. The very idea of 
humiliating the minister through your niggardliness, 
will not only work damage to him, but to you. 
Your business is to satisfy the claim of divine justice. 



102 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

To do this you must contribute until this, his 
equitable claim, is fully met, so far as God giveth 
you ability. 

(6.) "The ministers who planted our churches 
were poor and self-sacrificing." Yes, but then the 
church was poor; yet does this argue, now that it 
has grown rich, that the preacher should be kept de- 
pressed to the standard of its pioneer poverty? Your 
increased prosperity has enlarged the wants of the 
preacher. Your improved condition, and the civili- 
zation that attends it, require larger expenditures by 
your minister than were entailed upon the Fathers. 
Many of the Fathers in Israel, in the days of their 
poverty, walked to their appointments. Do you re- 
quire them now to walk when all the world is flying 
by steam, and you are abundantly able to provide 
them with the means of rapid and comfortable 
transit by carriage or car? Then, they wore home- 
spun. Must they now wear jeans, while you dress 
in broadcloths and diagonals? Then, a few books 
answered the intellectual demands of the times. 
Must they now be denied adequate literature while 
you are craving and demanding the highest culture 
and most comprehensive learning in the pulpit? But, 
in truth, when everything is taken into the account, 
were not the preachers as well paid in the pioneer 
days as they are now in our changed circumstances 
and civilization? 

(7. ) ' ' The preachers elsewhere are paid no better, " 
And is the dereliction of others to measure your re- 
sponsibility? Are you to be no better than others, 



THE SUPPORT OF THE MINISTRY. 103 

whom you know, are willing to be? Is duty to be 
determined by vote? Because others are derelict, you 
should be led to a more scrupulous discharge of your 
obligations that you may be an example to them, 
and that you may lessen your preacher's burden 
when, in turn, he may be assigned to serve 
the recreant. 

(8.) "We did not want him." But your brethren 
did. You were out-voted in ''the call," or he was 
sent to you by the Bishop. Maybe he did not want 
to come. He may have come out of a sense of 
duty, or out of respect to authority over him, or 
because of the pressure of circumstances. If you 
want a better Preacher, the best way to get one is to 
do justice towards the one you have. Love and 
honor your minister for " his work's sake." If your 
present preacher does not measure up to your stand- 
ard of excellence you will not make him better, but 
worse, by treating him with indifference or neglect. 
Appreciation is a mighty spur to aspiration and 
achievement. 

Be certain these paltry excuses are as debilitating 
to your piety as, when operative, they are depress- 
ing to your minister. 

A few words to ministers. Strive to be a man of 
one work. Any expedient, consumptive of time 
and talent, to make money outside of the legitimate 
work of the ministry will detract from your useful- 
ness and the dignity of your sacred office. People 
cannot feel that a minister, grasping after money, 
absorbed in secular schemes and affairs, can be 



104 . WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

warmly sympathetic and spiritual. They realize the 
hardening influence of worldly business upon them- 
selves and think its tendency is to make the minister's 
heart callous. Show that your office and its duties 
absorb you and require your most diligent attention. 
Tf the great scientist, Agassiz, could say, when prof- 
fered a large sum for services outside his legitimate 
studies, "I have not time to make money, " what 
ought a. Steward of the mysteries of the Faith be 
able to say when invited to turn- aside to get gain? 
Circumstances may arise in which it is justifiable to 
work in some secular pursuit for a support while 
using an opportunity to preach the Gospel, as Paul 
did at one period of his Apostleship; but have a care 
that such unrequited services are given to the poor 
because of their necessity, and not as a gratuity to 
the rich because of their miserly meanness. No 
matter though the salary may not be needed, take it. 
It is your right. Give it away yourself and do not 
permit selfish cupidity to keep it to the hurt of the 
possessor. Then, one may come after you, without 
private income, whose necessites require it, and your 
people will not be trained in the habit of paying it 
and he will suffer. ' 'A church grows richer by giving 
its wealth. It grows stronger by the expenditure 
of its strength, just as the blacksmith's arm strength- 
ens with every sturdy blow." If you want your 
debtors to respect you, make them pay you. More 
people will regard you for what they do for you than 
for what you do for them. Exact your salary as if 
conscious that it was due as a debt and not begged 



THE SUPPORT OF THE MINISTRY 105 

as a charity. Stand up for your rights if you .would 
most certainly secure the respect of men. It is a 
bad thing for a minister to be a candidate for dona- 
tions. Let him take no gift in lieu of pay. The 
financial officers should collect his salary and pay it 
over to him through their treasurer. It helps amaz- 
ingly to fix the obligation of members to treat the 
whole subject of church finances in a business way. 
Gifts can only come from those who have paid 
their dues. 

Allow no "entertainments" to be given for your 
benefit. Be an example unto the flock by being 
liberal yourself. Give something to every good cause. 

Be not ashamed to present the Gospel motives for 
every good cause promoted by money. Lay down 
the Scriptural principles upon which the ministry is 
supported. Ye are bound to ' ' declare the whole 
counsel of God." Make it uncomfortable for church 
tramps whcr make free dormitories of the church. 
Shake every shirk until he brings his gift to the altar, 
or pays up the score charged against him. Allow no 
stingy saints to sing, " I'm glad Salvation's free," in 
the sense that the>r can be mean and miserly and be 
saved. Give nobody a chance to shut their eyes in 
ecstasy and sing while a collection is being taken. 
Read from the word of God. Let the organ play, 
give the congregation at that time nothing to do, but 
to pay, or give. Turn a pure speech upon Zion. 
Do not let them confound paying and giving. Make 
sharp discriminations. They pay the preacher, the 
sexton, for the fuel, lights, etc.; \h.zy give to the poor. 



106 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

Thus instructing the people of your charge, they 
will come to a religious understanding of the virtue 
of paying, and the grace that waits on it with bless- 
ing, and you will be able rejoicingly to say, as did 
the disciples, when Jesus asked, "When I sent you 
without purse, and scrip, and shoes, lacked ye any- 
thing? Andtheysaid, Nothing." (Luke, xxii: 35.) 



THE CONQUEST OF THE WORLD. 10' 



CHAPTER VII. 
THE CONQUEST OF THE WORLD. 

Christianity is a system of propagandism. The 
initial word of its commission is ''Go." Nor is any 
limit prescribed for its going. ' ' The world is its 
parish." It is to make learners (disciples) of the 
nations. Wherever there is intelligence to be taught 
there is a pupil of its pedagogy. To learn of Christ 
was its injunction. The Gospel was to be an itiner- 
ant teaching of the nations of the Earth — of 
the World. 

' ' Our Lord meant no absurdly impracticable pro- 
ject when he said, 'Disciple all nations.' It would 
be easy for a consecrated Church promptly to carry 
the banner of the cross to the ends of the earth, or to 
furnish all the workers needful and to make the mis- 
sionary treasuries overflow. If one christian woman 
can herself disburse $2,000,000 in benevolence, if a 
congregational deacon can appropriate $1,000,000 to 
missions, if twenty persons in one year can together 
give nearly $4,000,000, what might not 100,000,000 
of Protestants give if only a tithe were honestly 
and systematically laid on God's altar?" (Crisis 
of Missions.) 

The mission of the Church was to be to the end 
of time, discipling. Christ was the Great Teacher 
from Heaven. To make known His truths was the 



108 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

office of the Church. Bees may as well expect to 
thrive by living on the honey theyhave hived with- 
out raiding the flowers for more, as for the Church to 
hope to live by feeding on the sweets of divine truth 
without learning more of God and Christ, by teaching 
and being taught of the new converts — for, every 
soul converted, is a phase of divine grace. 

In a word, Christianity is, primarily, a missionary 
system. Christ was sent of the Father. He came 
on a heavenly errand: to earth. He ' ' went about do- 
ing good." His meat and drink was to do the will 
of His Father in Heaven. He sent out the seventy 
disciples, in pairs, to teach what He had taught them. 
He gave the Great Commission — "Go ye therefore, 
and teach (make disciples or christians of) alL nations, 
baptizing, etc." (Matt, xxviii: 19.) Christ says, 
tl Come ! " to every lost sinner ; to every redeemed 
soul "Go!" 

Every saved soul holds salvation only by exertion 
for the salvation of others. 

! ' Now, the moment God blesses a man he wants to 
do something for Him in return. You may detect it 
in his testimony, in his prayer, in his song, or in his 
shout. But if God has really blessed him, you will 
find the most convincing proof of it in the bottom 
of the collection .plate. He will want to do some- 
thing for God. He will reach out for that collection 
plate as a thirsty child will reach out for a drink of 
water. Nothing will satisfy him but giving, giving 
grandly and giving often. Fast as grace runs into 
the heart good will run out of his hand. " 



THE CONQUEST OF THE WORLD. 109 

Whenever a just conception of the great, tender, 
compassionate heart of God has dawned upon any 
soul, anywhere, its first impulse has been to sacrifice 
before Him. Surely as the echo answers along the 
hills to the human voice, so surely will the response 
of giving be made to trie act of blessing. Make 
your tribute ihe offering of a grateful heart. The 
moment Zaccheus beard the voice of pitying love 
he cried out, "I give!" — " the half of my goods I 
give to the poor. " When, at the touch of the finger 
of God, the rieart of John Wesley was ' ' strangely 
warmed," he laid down all the splendid powers of 
his redeemed manhood at His feet. 

Our part of the great mission work at home, 
then, must be to come ourselves, and lead the 
people into closer communion with God — into the 
valley of blessing. 

" Not a cloud must arise 
To darken the skies 
Or hide for a moment 
The LordTrom our eyes, ' ' 

Rev. Alfred Hough. 

In the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem, under 
Nehemiah, every one was required to build over 
against himself One, who was a mere lodger, built 
over against bis chamber window. So, every 
christian is required to save the world exactly where 
he touches it. The temple altar cried, "Come!" 
The cross cries, "Go!" The religion of the Jews 
Was stationary and provincial. The religion of Christ 
is itinerant and ecumenical. Go, or send ; or die and 



110 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

burn, are the imperative alternatives. The Cherubim 
bended over the Ark of the Covenant, gazing at the 
sacred relics ; the Angel of the Gospel flies on 
errands of mercy. Contemplation is succeeded by 
work. If Christ calls some to go, all others are 
under a divine call to send. The commission was 
given to the Church and not exclusively to the 
Apostles. It is the Church that is to "go." Says 
Canon Liddon : " Properly speaking, the Church of 
Christ is the one great missionary society. Over her 
gates we read, from age to age, the inscription which 
was traced by her great Founder in almost His part- 
ing words: 'Go make discipLes of all the nations, 
baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the 
Son, and of the Holy Ghost.'" 

If the Church of Christ should cease to be mission- 
ary she would be utterly untrue to the plainest 
commands of her Lord. And the missionary spirit 
is not, by any means, only, the spirit of official 
missionaries— it is the spirit of all true christians who 
have the truth in mind, who have their Lord's honor 
at heart. Every serious christian is a missionary, in 
intention, and within the limits that his providential 
work makes possible, though he may never have 
looked upon the face of a heathen in his life, just as 
every serious christian bears, within his heart, the 
spirit of the martyrs, though he may never be called 
upon to witness his faith with blood; for, the wish 
to spread the knowledge of the liove of Jesus Christ 
is, if I may so speak, a strong, overmastering 
impulse in every man,, in every woman,, who really 



THE CONQUEST OF THE WORLD. Ill 

knows and loves Him The man who knows 

the happiness of peace with God, through our Lord 
Jesus Christ, cannot but desire that other men should 
share it; and this desire, in its higher, its stronger, 
its more heroic forms, is one of the greatest gifts of 
Gcd to His Church. It is that divine enthusiasm 
of which our Lord Jesus Christ spoke in the words, 
"I am come to send fire on the earth." 

The Church is catholic and missionary. The 
promise is to the Church. While it keeps a-going, 
divine power will attend it — Christ will be with it 
unto the end of the world. A non-missionary 
church is a dying church. Everything that does not 
go and give is doomed to death. The universe is 
made on that plan. Movement is the first exponent 
of vital energies. Living forces work from the centre 
outward. The sap and blood circulate. Coagulation 
is strangulation. When extension ceases decay sets 
in. A stagnant pool is a distillery of death. Dismal 
swamps brew contagion, and every wind that wafts 
bears on its wings the mephitic poison. It is the 
running stream, clear as crystal, that carries a bene- 
diction to the thirsty meadow. It gives refreshing 
drink to the flowers that droop to kiss its waters with 
grateful lips and fragrant breath. Even the willows 
bend their branches, as if reverently acknowledging 
the blessing it brings to their hidden roots. A tree 
must retain power to burgeon and blossom, and 
banner itself with foliage, or its leaf must wither and 
its branches die. The sun must keep a hospitable 
fireside for its family of worlds, or perish. It must 



112 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

shine and warm, and light on their way the worlds 
that wheel around it, or be consumed by its own 
ardors. The vegetable world cannot store energy. 
It must constantly elaborate from soil, sunshine and 
shower the elements of repair, or waste away with a 
shriveling atrophy. When nature goes into winter 
quarters, life retreats to the roots and there nurses its 
forces, beneath the frost, for fresh motherly cares 
when the spring comes with its Easter rising. Men 
die daily, but rise again. If the apparatus of repair 
is inadequate to replace the waste, a funeral is at 
hand. We must eat to live, if we would live to eat. 
'■In the midst of life we are in death," but in the 
midst of death we are in life. Everythingjbegins to 
die at the extremities. Life retreats from the front 
to the central fortress. It js like an army cut to 
pkces on the retreat, or dying of exhaustion in its 
castle, as soon as it passes the moat. 

So, the undertaker of churches smiles at the pros- 
pect of a funeral the momentlie learns that missionary 
zeal begins to cool. There is vigor in the heart 
when there is warmth in the toes and finger-tips. 
Church extension is an infallible sign of deep-seated 
spirituality at the parent centres. As forests are 
planted to woo moisture to arid wastes, so do 
spiritual harvest spring up wherever the tree of life 
extends its roots and spreads its branches. Nev 
York must preserve the Adirondacks or perish 
for water. 

A class of anti-missionary Baptists, thoroughly 
repudiated by that great body of christian propa- 



THE CONQUEST OF THE WORLD. 113 

gandists known as "Baptists," and designated 
"Hard-Shell Baptists," have died out because their 
armor was too thick to feel celestial fire on their 
backs to make them move. Retiring to the water, they 
have left their eggs buried in the sand, a prey to 
pelicans. Presbyterianism lives, because it was 
decreed it should go to the salvation of men. Thus 
it makes its ' ' calling and election sure. " Missionary 
Baptists would have rotted in the dry docks had not 
they put to sea. They can live on water so long as 
they touch the coaling stations. Romanism would 
perish if it were not forever on the run — just as the 
dogs of Egypt drink on the gallop for fear of the 
crocodiles that infest the Nile. Methodism — that 
great original tramp — has marched around the world 
giving, not begging, ±>read. They have £rod for 
Father, mankind for brothers, and the world for a 
home. Wherever souls were hungering for right- 
eousness, there these Gospel bread-bearers have found 
welcome. On their banners they inscribed for a 
legend, "To spread christian holiness over all these 
lands." No flag, floating such a banner-text,worthily 
borne and supported, can ever go down in the dust 
of defeat. "It is Christianity on horse-back;" give 
it an insulated saddle and it will ride the lightning 
with spurs. It is a revival, and, like the brands tied 
to the tails of Samson's foxes, it kindles a conflagra- 
tion in all the fields of the Philistines. It must run 
or burn. To dally in Delilah's seductive lap is to be 
shorn of its locks of strength. With unshorn locks 
it can hew its way to victory, even with the jawbone 



114 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

of an ass, or bear away on its broad shoulders 
the brazen gates of cities. Nobody doubts its 
going, pioneer power. All churches acknowledge 
an indebtedness to it as the great scout of Christianity 
in the American wilds. The debate is long and loud 
within its own borders as to its capacity to hold what 
it gains. A settled pastorate is demanded by many 
who do not fail to recognize the missionary power of 
its itinerancy. Methodists may require a settled 
pastorate. Let them settle that question. What all 
other churches have to consider is the itinerant, going 
power. They must go or die. The church thrives by 
extension. There is honey hived for it in the dead 
lion in the wilderness. Commissary ravens fly by 
the Brook Cherith. If it pitches its tent towards 
Sodom, it will soon be templed in it, and lingering 
like Lot, when it should be fleeing, a moral palsy 
will seize its limbs, and when it warns will be "as 
one who mocked," and its sons and daughters will be 
consumed with the doomed cities. A spiritual 
canker will gnaw at its vitals, and though saved, it 
will be "as by fire." She may say, as David in his 
prosperity: "I shall not be moved." She must move 
or mourn. The fine gold will become dim if it is 
not rubbed. Currency will keep it bright. Methodism 
must keep her locks streaming in the wind. If it 
submit to the scissors, it must grind grist for her 
enemies in the mills of Gaza. "Up! get ye out of 
this place; for the Lord will destroy this city. " She 
must pasture her sheep in the green fields of the 



THE CONQUEST OF THE WORLD. 115 

country, or there will be no mutton for her in the. 
city market. 

Yes, "the Gospel must go. " To be sure it must go — 
"Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to 
every creature." That commission is as the Iron 
Duke designated it — our Great Captain's " marching 
orders." The Bible must go — go with the soldiers 
of the cross — our " Manual of Tactics," our "Army 
Regulations." It must go into the souls of men. Is 
not the steam press of the Bible Society, throwing 
off a copy of the New Testament every quarter of a 
minute, the veritable angel St. John saw in the 
Apocalyptic vision, flying through the Heavens, 
having the everlasting Gospel to preach, and drop- 
ping with every vibration of its wafting wings, "the 
leaves for the healing of the nations? " Unbind the 
blessed Evangel. Cut the links of gold that tether 
it to our chancel-rails and bid it speed on its 
blessed errand ! 

The tract must "go" — go with the thundering 
train — go with the swimming steamer. The day 
may not be distant when colporteurs of the Amer-. 
ican Bible Society will drop, from air-ships, leaves of 
Gospel light upon the Pagodas of China, the valleys 
of the Himalayas, and the delta of the Congo. 
Pagan nations will read them as celestial messages. 

You smile as if incredulous. Why. not, when 
cultured Greeks looked on Anacreon's lyre as 
descending from Elysium? Why not,, when God 
rained the bread of heaven upon the tents of Israel? 
Why not, when celestial fire consumed the sacrifice 



116 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

of the altar on Carmel ! Many an infidel will be 
disturbed by these missiles of mercy falling around 
him " thick as leaves in Alhambrosa. " Let us have 
snow-storms of them, drifts of sacred truth, piled 
up against every sinner's door ! 

Christian education must w go"— go to the haunts 
of ignorance, and the caverns of superstition — go to 
the hovels of the freedmen. Whatever may be 
thought of the policy of conferring suffrage on the 
negro, the only safety, now, is in -preparing him to 
cast a virtuous vote. A republic rests on "ballots — 
a monarchy on bayonets. "An uneducated ballot is 
the winding sheet of liberty — the urn cf fate." 
Educated men govern nations, and educated nations 
govern the world. The ruling power is always an 
educated power. An ignorant people can be 
governed by force, directed by despotic thrones, but 
none but an educated people can govern themselves. 
In this country every man is born a king. To 
educate the masses is to educate the sovereign 
power. Those who made him free must help him to 
demonstrate to the incredulous his capacity to wield 
the fearful power of the ballot. Those among whom 
he dwells must consent and contribute to his eleva- 
tion, or be reduced to his level. The higher, or at 
least more favored race, must lift the lower or less 
favored to its level, or the inferior will pull down to 
its plane. As the moon lifts the tides until the rivers 
are full, so must a power, planted in the heavens, 
draw up and distribute the forces resident in the 
freedmen, invigorating by their tonic flow, or there 



THE CONQUEST OF THE WORLD. 117 

will be mental and moral stagnation whose symbol 
is the undrained morass. Ebb-tide floats no cargo 
into port. Our "Brother in Black" must cast a 
white ballot, or our black brother will cast a black 
ball against liberty — which means a vote for licen- 
tiousness and anarchy. All leveling, in this country, 
must be up. Pure air floats over the table-lands. 
Putrescent population is as detrimental to the consti- 
tution of the country as malaria to the human body. 
We must dyke, with intelligent virtue the South, or 
it will become a marsh of political mud, breeding- 
bad airs for liberty to breathe, and touching and 
tainting every fibre of freedom with deadly miasm. 
The Dutch must take Holland. We must polish 
God's image in ebony until he shines, or he will 
absorb every ray of light and every beam of love. 
Grace must conquer and constrain the heart of the 
Afric- American, or disgrace will drape our starry flag 
in weeds of a national grief. The negro must be 
made comformable to a pure national life, or he will 
gangrene the body politic. As ' * self-preservation is 
the first law of nature," we must save the negro, or 
he will damn us. Freedmen's aid means self-help. 
We are interested to extirpate the Canada thistles in 
our neighbor's field, for if their seeds are ripened, 
they are winged for distant flight. The cesspool, 
over the fence, unless disinfected, will waft death to 
our household. We are bound up in such network 
of relationships in this republic, that if one suffer 
all suffer. Brains are something more than batteries ; 
hearts are something more than blood-pumps. We 



118 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

must honey-comb minds with truth, and store breasts 
with love, or mental moths will make havoc of the 
one, and hoard hate, like the poison of asps, in the 
other. Do not think meanly of the education and 
evangelization of the negro; for if he increase during 
the next century as he has in the last decade, he will 
muster ninety million strong. Liberty holds out its 
cap for money to send the schoolmaster abroad. 
"Education is the cheap defense of nations." It is 
the spelling-book or needle-guns — the virtuous voter 
or the police of a standing army. The ballot-box 
must silently, as the snow-flake, express the w r ill of 
God, or the feathered and fired lightnings will shiver 
the Charter Oak of the republic. Should the sacred 
ark ever totter, no profane hand can stay it without 
inviting the bolt of vengeance. Bibles are better than 
bayonets and batteries. They buttress the bulwarks 
of the nation. The freedman must be a freeman, 
or the whites must become slaves of ignorance and 
corruption. To save Sambo is to save Uncle Sam. 
The eagle must fly sunward, or the vulture will prey 
upon the victim bound to the rock. Liberty must 
lift and spread her shield, or the bow is bent that 
will send the shaft of shame speeding to her vitals. 
Did not philanthropy implead the cause of the 
freedmen, patriotism would still be hoarse with 
importunity. "An ounce of prevention is worth a 
pound of cure." The Hebrew nationality perished 
when the incendiary soldier of Titus seized a flaming 
fagot from the altar of burnt offering and fired the 
temple on Mount Zion. As the lurid flames leaped 



THE CONQUEST OF THE WORLD. 119 

up and licked the sky, they wrote the inscription in 
letters of fire, that told of the final Lll of Israel. 
Our altar of liberty lacks not for votive-offerings, nor 
for sweet-scented fuel to consume the unblemished 
sacrifice; but should we falter in our labor of love, 
and allow ignorance and corruption to fester — the 
time may come when out of the neglected masses 
will spring the brutes and brands to whom nothing 
is sacred, and the torch of arson may light the 
conflagration which will lay the fane of freedom in 
ashes without a Phoenix power in the smouldering 
ruins to raise again the fair fabric built by our 
patriot sires, and thus posterity may be left without 
a shrine, and America remain only a blackened ruin. 
I would paint no forbidding picture. Fain would I 
rather believe that, duly admonished, the future may 
be Avisely forecasted and its destinies provided for in 
advance ; that, the dependent freedmen, faithfully 
taught and divinely renovated, may become pillared 
supports of the republic — and that ere the cylinder 
cf the century has completed its revolution, there 
may not only be occasion here for chanting still 

"Hail Columbia; happy land," 

— but that the leaven of liberty shall have so spread 
that universal humanity may exultingly hymn: 

'• Take,Freedom, take thy radiant round ; 
When dimmed, revive— when lost.return; 
And not a shrine on earth be found 
In which thy glories do not burn." 

I thought to dismiss this feature with a poetical 
climax. On reflection I cannot. It is quite too 
practical to be left with a quotation. 



120 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

The American people owe a debt to the ignorant 
Africans, and to posterity, they cannot discharge 
with a mere sentiment of philanthropy. It will help 
them to compose themselves to their obligation if 
they will but reflect that slavery was not an evil 
without compensation. 

The wretched creature that was brought from 
Africa is not the typical freedman that elicits so 
much interest, to-day, throughout Christendom. 

Let the fact stand for all it is worth. Through 
American slavery more Africans have been brought 
to Christ than by all the missionary efforts that have 
been expended upon Africa. It is admitted to be 
an instance of God's providential power for good 
overruling the avarice and wrath of men. It is a 
signal instance in which He has neutralized the poison 
and brought a great good out of human evil. 

Southern Christianity deserves recognition for its 
splendid work of evangelism during the era of slavery. 
The civil war found the negro slave under the domina- 
tion of elementary christian ideas. The South builded 
better than they knew. The slaves knew the funda- 
mental doctrines of our holy religion and were influ- 
enced by them as no pagan population in Europe had 
ever been. It has been quite the custom of a class 
of philanthropists to represent that all truth was 
shut out from the slave-mind that would tend to the 
creation of the idea of liberty. But the fact that 
most of the negroes of the South were christians 
at the close of the war, is an effectual answer to the 
statement. As in the days of Christ and his apostles, 



THE CONQUEST OF THE WORLD. 121 

when slavery was universal, Christianity worked its 
legitimate fruits, and established relations between 
master and slaves, and found beautiful illustrations in 
the observance of mutual relations ; so, in our own coun- 
try, the blessed Gospel of Christ made just masters 
and faithful slaves, and innumerable instances existed 
of such relations as were prescribed by the Apostle and 
particularly, as in the case of Philemon and Onesimus. 

The fact is too apparent for other than a fanatic 
or fool to deny, that while all slavery is contrary to 
christian brotherhood, God has overruled the Amer- 
ican servitude of the negro race to the very best 
interest of black men. The exalted position they 
now occupy is not the product of twenty-five years 
of freedom, but of their two hundred .years contact 
with christian civilization. 

The negro race in America to-day is to be accepted 
as a trust of Providence. The Northern people are 
not to exhaust their interest in the feeling that they 
have been the instruments of their freedom. They 
are partners to the crime of slavery, and must, in 
common with the South, do everything they can to 
atone for the crime entailed upon them by their 
fathers and measurably accepted by them with quite 
too much complacency to bear the complexion of 
virtue. At the beginning, most of the colonies were 
slave territory. Abolition obeyed an isothermal 
line. It moved South as interest prompted — as the 
problems of soil and climate indicated. 

The North was most interested in the slave trade 
and the slowest to abandon it. Time is nothing in 



122 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

the view of God. Our fathers were slaveholders. 
The American nation is guilty of the great and 
inexcusable crime of slavery. The good that has 
come of it, by the overruling of the wrath, the 
cupidity, the tyranny of men, is no palliation for the 
offence. 'The awful libation of blood, paid in the 
civil war, is the exponent of the common guilt of 
the Republic. Neither side meant to abolish slavery, 
if, by its preservation the Union and the commercial 
interests of the country could be preserved. The 
Emancipation Proclamation was a war measure. 
God abolished slavery. That is the eternal truth. Let 
it stand. Let us feel that in. consequence of our 
complicity, North and South, with slavery and 
divine intervention to overrule our cupidity, that we 
now owe a great obligation not only to these suddenly 
freed men, but to the South as suddenly surprised 
and convulsed by freedom. 

When the sons of Noah saw their father's drunken- 
ness, they advanced backwards, and cast their 
mantles over his shame, and then retreated. It 
behooves us, North and South, to imitate their 
example, and to retire from the spectacle of national 
degradation, refusing to look on the object of our 
common shame. 

Our ancestors brought slaves here. They bought 
and sold them from New England to the Gulf. 
Time does not outlaw a crime. The wealth of the 
nation was partly made by their sweat and toil. Let 
not the North, like Pilate, wash its hands of the 
blood of slavery. Like the murder-stain on Lady 



THE CONQUEST OF THE WORLD. 123 

Macbeth's hand, "the damned spot will not out" at 
the bidding. Redress of wrongs will alone bleach it. 
To unchain their menagerie of ignorance and passions 
and leave them, proscribed by color, ranked with 
the gorilla, bought with corruption money, doomed 
by circumstances more tyrannical than chattel slave- 
laws, is to increase the perils of the republic. Eight 
millions strong to-day, they have only to increase 
in the ratio of the last twenty years to be one 
hundred and ninety-two millions strong in A. D., 
2,000. A declinature on our part to aid those 
whom we have injured will be a blot on the 
national escutcheon and will give the lie to all our 
professions of liberty. They are now as docile as 
dependent; but let them grow, neglected, and pile 
up their traditions of wrong, and they, leagued with 
other elements of disturbance, will repeat the horrors 
of Saint Domingo, on our fair fields, and make our 
sewers run red with vengeance. The obelisk in 
Central Park stood for centuries unscathed on the 
sands of the Libyan Desert, and in the harbor of 
Alexandria. Brought to this cold climate, it shows 
decay, which, unarrested by scientific preventives, 
will go on until it will macadamize the spot it 
monuments. 

So, work done in Africa by Livingstone, Stanley, 
and Bishops Hannington and Taylor may stand 
forever unimpaired, while the unacclimated, unassim- 
ilated Americo-African, fallen to decay by neglect, 
may become the merest human shale, trampled 
under foot, or may, like the : - blind and infuriated 



124 WEALTH AND WORKMEN, 

Samson, in the temple of Dagon, pull down ruin on 
multitudes and himself. 

Refuse to forecast the future. Say as the infatuated 
people of Pompeii, " After us the ruin," and 
posterity, inheriting our folly, will laugh at the cheat, 
and nations born with a higher birth-right will 
ridicule the farce of the war that broke the chains of 
slavery, only to forge the fetters of ignorance and 
superstition left fastened on a race, heir only to a 
legacy of shame and deserted of a, guardian. 

There are but few directions in which money can 
be put to better use than in the education and eleva- 
tion of our brother in black. 

It is not as a charity, simply, that we educate the 
negroes; but the colored man, having been invested 
with the elective franchise, it is as equally necessary to 
make him intelligent and virtuous as it is the white 
voter. A vote in the hands of a black citizen is 
quite as potent as in the hands of a white one. 
While we had, before the adoption of the constitu- 
tional amendment, conferring, by wholesale, on the 
freedmen the electorate, an alarming ignorant white 
vote, we have added to it, thereby, an appalling 
number with no independent ability to acquaint 
themselves with the fundamental law, and the great 
questions that currently agitate the public mind, 
and upon which candidates contest the places of 
political preferment and power. While it is granted 
that an ignorant people can be governed by 
autocratic power, supported by bayonets, it is equally 
true that none but an intelligent people can govern 



THE CONQUEST OF THE WORLD. 125 

chemselves. Illiterate masses are. but pliant tools in 
the hands of artful demagogues, and neither life, 
property, nor happiness can be regarded as secure 
while vicious ignorance holds the reins of power, 
and drives the chariot of State. Republican gov- 
ernments are built upon treacherous quicksands that 
rest their foundations upon a majority which can 
be easily deluded by traitors to- liberty and brokers 
in the peace and prosperity of a people. Our census 
of ignorance is already sufficiently appalling; and to 
rapidly diminish this baleful power is alike the duty, 
as it should be esteemed the priceless privilege, of 
both the patriot and the philanthropist. 

Whatever view we may have entertained of the 
propriety of the amendment to the Federal Consti- 
tution, which conferred the dignity of the voter upon 
the negro, it confronts us as a fact, and necessrtates 
that we should deal with it as a practical problem, 
pressing upon us for a safe solution. If education, in 
a republic, be the basis of the civil order, then to 
elevate the ignorant Africans, who are clothed with 
the tremendous power of suffrage, becomes, at once, 
an imperative duty. 

So, to return to the main point, or principle, let all 
our benevolent agencies "go," complementing the 
power of the pulpit — wherever there is sin to rebuke, 
minds to enlighten, or souls to save. Shake out the 
folds of the Gospel banner! Let the bandying 
breezes of heaven fan the flying flag, and every 
ensign hear the command of our Great Captain: 



126 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

" Onward, christian soldiers ! Marching as to war, 
With the cross of Jesus going on before. 
Christ the Royal Master, leads against the foe; 
Forward into battle, see his banners go ! " 

Drummond tells us how the Hermit Crab, 
becoming too lazy to make its own shell, invaded 
that of the whelk, devouring the tenant and appro- 
priating the ready-made house to his own occupation. 
When it became vagrant, degeneration set in, until, 
at last, it lost its natural protection and all power to 
recover it. It became limited in its sphere of move- 
ment and an arrant coward, in continual fear of 
assault. Hermit monks have had a like history. For- 
swearing the world, they have retreated to the desert, 
or to caverns, and, in solitude, become the prey of the 
vices they fled. Fellowship is rewarded with mental 
and moral growth,- and spirituality is strengthened 
by the necessity of virtue and valor. Cravenly flying 
instead of fighting, monks have found they could not 
escape from themselves, and have sunk in imbecility 
and inward lust, and, finally perished by self-immola- 
tion. While the kingdom of God is not of the world, it 
is in the world. Christian heroism only shows itself by 
valorously confronting the triple-leagued enemy — the 
world, the flesh and the devil. Sin is in the man. 
He cannot be pruned into virtue. The worm is 
boring at the roots of being. Cutting off dead 
branches does no good when the coccus is gnawing at 
the vital centers. " Create in me a clean heart, " is 
the prayer that recognizes the source and seat of 
sin. The dead rocks display elective affinities, and 
like leaps to like in beautiful crystallizations, but all 



THE CONQUEST OF THE WORLD. 127 

organic life springs and spreads from within. When 
the mole took to tunneling he lost his eyes. The 
sightless fish of the Mammoth Cave " chose darkness 
rather than light " — left the sun-lit, star-kissed, 
zephyr-swept waters of Green River, and paid the 
penalty nature always exacts when her blessings are 
despised. Invalids, who essayed to live in the cave, 
hoping, by breathing its highly nitrogenized air and 
living in its even temperature, to be restored, rapidly 
declined and lost their vision. Sunlight was found 
to be essential. So, the soul must live in the light 
of the Sun of Righteousness and feel its invigorating 
warmth, or spiritual blindness and torpor will ensue. 
The soul's health is dependent on light and love. 
Activity is a prime requisite of strength. Suspend 
an arm in a sling and the hand will soon lose its 
cunning. Refuse to speak and the tongue will cleave 
to the roof of the mouth and the brain will soften. 
Imbecility will ensue. 

* * * * " Thoughts shut up want air, 
And spoil like bales unopened to the sun. 
Had thought been all.sweet speech had been denied. 
Speech ventilates our intellectual fires, 
Brightens for ornament and whets for use." 

Nations locked up in exclusiveness, have steadily 
degenerated. Look at the cast-iron mind of China, 
under the hermit policy of the Tartar dynasty, the 
badge of loyalty to which is the cue. Get a 
Chinaman to part with his "pig-tail" and he immedi- 
ately begins to grow ideas instead of hair. Look 
at Spain, bound in the chains of tradition, and com- 
pare her with the free kingdoms of Europe. 



128 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

Italy has grown in power every year since the 
dispossession of the Papacy. Omissionary churches 
are either dying or dead, while the missionary 
churches are flourishing like the cedars on Lebanon. 

* The Methodist Church builds four chapels a day, 
and she grows in all the elements of ecclesiastical 
strength. She has no dearth of ministers or congre- 
gations, because no "pent up Utica confines her 
powers." Choosing "the world for her parish," she 
is vital in every part, and is sending out her lines to 
the ends of the earth. Like the Banyan tree of the 
East Indies, it is rooting its branches in every fertile 
soil. Like the vine God "brought of Egypt: he 
prepared room for it and did cause it to take deep 
root, and it filled the land. The hills are covered 
with the shadow of it, and the boughs thereof are like 
the goodly cedars." Itinerancy may be a great iron 
wheel, turning many wheels within; but while the 
wheels turn there will be no rusting axles. It was 
the sound of a going that David heard, as a token of 
triumph in the tops of the mulberry trees. It was a 
vision of wheels that Ezekiel saw as the symbolry of 
a Divine Providence. ' ' They four had one likeness, as 
if a wheel had been in the midst of a wheel. * * They 
went upon their four sides ; they turned not as they 
went' ' — they went straight forward. ' 'The glory of the God 
of Israel was over them above." An army in camp 



-This church is mentioned only to illustrate the growth that 
waits on going, and to provoke other churches to imitate it in its 
progagation power, while holding on to the conserving influence of a 
settled pastorate. 



THE CONQUEST OF THE WORLD. 129 

rots. March it; right ft ; cheer it with victory ; crown 
it with glory, if you would maintain an esprit du 
corps y prevent desertion and secure enlistments. An 
army falling back wins no recruits. *' Going to the 
front ! ' J is the rallying cry of the recruiting sergeant. 
Nations that keep standing armies have provoked 
foreign war to avoid internecine strife. 

An admiral, commanding a fleet, found himself at 
sea in time of war, with a mutinous crew. He 
learned the nature of the conspiracy and the watch- 
word, " Buff the cue! " He could have hung them 
to the boom. He steered alongside the enemy, 
trained his guns, and when ready to fire a broadside 
he pointed to his country's colors and said, "Now, 
my braves, buff the cuel " Mutiny gave place tp 
loyalty and never did sailors and marines fight more 
heroically. Nothing contributes more to union in 
the home churches, the suppression of heresy and 
sedition, than to enlist all their surplus energies in 
domestic philanthropy and foreign evangelism. Is 
there trouble? Sail the ship into the thick of the 
fight; display her red-cross ensign. Never - put the 
flag-ship in dock except to scrape the barnacles off 
her hull. Launch out into the deep. Safety is 
beyond the bar. It is death or deep water. Spread 
all her canvas. Head her direct for the enemy. 
As the Petrel is ever in sight of a storm, so, keep 
her in sailing distance of battle. The phantom- 
ship of Coleridge — becalmed on a brazen sea — 
nothing living but the ill-omening albatross, perched 
upon her shrouds, or ' scudding about her spars — 



130 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

symbolizes a Church that has a name to live, but is 
dead. Let the Boatswain whistle up the crew and 
put the old Ship of Zion out on the rolling wave, 
with "a wet sheet and a flowing sea and a wind that 
gathers fast; " . . 

" Nail to the mast her holy flag, 
Set every threadbare saiL 
And give her to the God of storms, 

. The lightning and the gale." 

He is aboard, who, when the wave .is wroth, can 
speak to the troubled elements : " Peace, be still ! " 
He calms the sea and rebukes the winds. "Be not 
afraid!" The gale, is but driving the vessel on its 
way. At ease in Zion is as "a painted ship on a 
painted sea." .Let the christian understand there are 
no ninety-day-troops in this Holy War; it is victory 
or death. Does some scout report the enemy's 
arrows so thick that they eclipse the sun ? Be it ours 
to answer, "then we will fight in the shade," Does 
some soldier limp, let him say as the. club-footed 
Greek, "I came to fight, not to run." .Does some 
statistician suggest- the overwhelming numbers of 
the foe, heroically reply, "show us not how many 
the enemy are, but where they are ! " Remember 
the resources of our Leader. Antigonus was about to 
engage the Armada of Ptolemy. The timid marines 
murmured, declaring it madness to meet in battle so 
many more than they. The undaunted king rebuked 
their cowardice^ saying, " But how many have ye 
counted me for?" O, ye : of little faith ! Do you 
grow disheartened as you compare the hosts of Satan 



THE CONQUEST OF THE WORLD. 131 

with the Arm)' of the Cross? Shake off thy doubts 
and fears, and reckon how much the great Captain 
of our Salvation can be counted for, who has said: 
"Lo! I am with you alway, even unto the end of 
the world." 

When Cortez landed in Mexico he destroyed his 
ships. There he was, confronted by enemies, 
the ocean between him and Spain, without a keel to 
ferry him home. His troops saw it was victory, 
captivity, or death. When Warwick, the King-maker, 
was pushed to defeat, he drew up his steed in front 
of the faltering columns, calmly dismounted, threw 
back the neck of his charger, drew his sword, and 
drove it to the hilt in the heart of his horse. Thus 
he proved to his troops that he could not escape if 
he would, and that he would not desert them in 
defeat if he could. Our ships are burned, our horses 
are dead, and there is no alternative for the Church 
but conquest. "Now the just shall live by faith: 
but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no 
pleasure in him." 

The troops of Henry of Navarre always felt as- 
sured of victory so long as they could discern the 
floating feathers of their chieftain's plume. Christ's 
command is, "Follow Me!" And our response 
should be, 

"Only Thou our Leader be 
And we still will follow Thee:" 

Whatever the cause, no man has ever wrought or 
fought mightily who has not caught an inspiration 
from the far-above and the far-away, even as Moses 



132 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

"endured, as seeing Him who is invisible." Who 
would not rather be Moses, taking a dying look at 
the Promised Land, than Aaron down on his knees 
before a golden calf? 

A religion that constrains no sacrificial cost is 
worthless. The fact of holding on, and advancing, 
counting not life dear, if it be required, is the 
soul's proclamation of the majesty of the movement, 
and the sublimity of the stake. If to save a nation 
from disruption could induce our American Chieftain 
to say, " We'll fight it out on this line if it takes all 
summer," cannot the Sons of Christendom, impelled 
by the grandeur of their cause, cry out, "The world 
for Christ and Christ for the world," and endure 
hardness as good soldiers, wage the war and conquer 
a universal peace, 

'• When one song shall employ all nations 
Worthy the Lamb, for He was slain for us ! 
The dwellers in the vales, and on the rocks, 
Shout to each other; and the mountain tops 
From distant mountains catch the flying joy— 
'Till nation after nation taught the strain, 
Earth rolls the rapturous hosanDah 'round ."' 

If the apathy of the Athenians filled the golden 
mouth of Demosthenes, until, breathing patriotic 
appeals, he roused the sluggard to shout, "Let us 
march against Philip!" — shall not a world lying in 
wickedness produce Heralds of the Cross, who will 
not hold their peace until all Christendom becomes 
instinct with heroism, and resolved to do or die, 
rather than that remorseless invader of earth's Eden 
shall hold a single parapet on the planet? There can 



THE CONQUEST OF THE WORLD. 133 

be no looking" back, much less turning back. Think 
of our own American hero, who, when mortally 
wounded in his twentieth battle, and gasping in 
death, asked to be turned over that he might have 
the privilege to die with his face towards the enemy. 
Nothing is worthy of a christian hero but Paul's 
antithesis — "For me to live is Christ, to die is gain." 
Let the word fail perish ; Christ must reign until He 
hath put all enemies under His feet. This is the 
spirit which will aid a man to the end, and make him 
triumphant; whereas, the possibility of failure con- 
fessed, breeds the expectation of defeat- — acts as a 
traitor's bribe on imbecility, and prostrates the 
warrior sulking in his tent, when his sword should be 
cleaving the way to victory. Nothing so weakens 
an army as for a general to speak hesitatingly of the 
fate of an impending battle. Next to the treachery 
of Arnold, was the ignoble retreat of Charles Lee 
from Monmouth, when he should have been support- 
ing Washington. Let not your lips sing the 
drivelling verse, 

" Hold the fort." 

No, oh no ! Christianity is not beleaguered. No 
starving garrison like that of Lucknow, no hotspur 
challenge like that of the Percys, of Northumber- 
land, with banners swung to the outer wall — 
symbolize the militant Church. The Church is 
aggressive and in the field. Ours is a march to the 
sea. Armageddon will be our Appomattox. We 
are not playing soldier. We are fighting no sham 
battle. We are- indulging in no vain prance in the 



134 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

tilt-yard. We are engaged in a war oi conquest. 
Sin's hosts are not advancing, nor is Satan leading 
on. There is even now a wavering line, and soon 
there will be a retreat and a rout. "If God be for us, 
who can be against us?" 

'God has sounded forth His trumpet that shall never call retreat, 
He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment seat 
Be swift my soul to answer Him, be jubilant my feet, 
For God is marching on." 

" Much of the religion of our times lacks fibre. It 
is soft and flabby. It is given to enjoying itself. 
It is full of songs — especially of the sentimental and 
emotional type. It gushes on all possible occasions. 
It is nervous, excitable, inflammatory, explosive. 
But much of, it is as powerless as purposeless. It 
lacks militancy and the spirit of martyrdom. It is 
timid where there is real danger; it is braver on 
dress parade than in the deadly breach. 

"All over this continent and across the sea we sing, 

'Hold the fort.' 

"The Church is not sent into this world to 'hold 
the fort.' It is not on the defensive; it is not keep- 
ing a garrison ; it is not resisting a siege. Let us 
change word and tune, and sing awhile — 

'Storm the fort.' 

"Think of Paul and Silas singing 'Hold the fort' 
in Philippi ! " 

God is preparing for His final charge, and will take 
the last fortress. Before the heights of Chapultepec 
the American army was drawn up in line, blistering 
beneath a Mexican sun. An impatient soldier 



THE CONQUEST OF THE WORLD. J.35 

said to his comrade, "Why don't General Scott 
order the charge, and not keep us broiling here?" 
The better soldier answered, ' ' General Scott is 
getting ready, and when he completes the distribu- 
tion of his troops he'll take the fort in a hurry." 
God is getting ready. He will take this world in a 
hurry. "Behold I will send my messenger, and he 
shall prepare the way before me ; and the Lord whom 
ye seek shall suddenly come to His temple." 

A bishop of a Southern church expressed a fear 
that his church would not, unless it hurried up, get 
to Japan in time to share in the glory of its conversion. 
The air, like the clouds in the pictures of Fra Ange- 
lica, is thick with legions of angels. The thunder- 
footsteps of God make' the earth to quake and the 
mountains to smoke. God is shaking all nations. 
Learn to labor and to wait. "God is not slack con- 
cerning His promises." He sees the end from the 
beginning. With Him, prophecy is history. Christ 
on the cross "saw the travail of His soul and was 
satisfied." * All that ought to be will be. As the 
weaver of Arras cloth works on the rough side of 
the fabric wrought by his cunning hand, so the 
christian workman must not expect to see the beauty 
of his work until it is finished. The old chime-player 
of St. Nicholas. Amsterdam, heard not the music of 
the bells he struck, but from the tower floated the 
sweet strains that gladdened the'toiler in the fields, and 
the sailor on the sea. You can no more compass 
the plans of infinite wisdom than you can wind up 
the mechanism of the universe with your watch-key. 



136 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

"It is my deep conviction, and I say it again and 
again, that if the Church of Christ were what she 
ought to be, twenty years would not pass away till 
the story of the Cross would be uttered in the ears 
of every Kvtng man. " (Dying words of Dr.- S. C. 
Calhoun.) 

If the church of the nineteenth century were 
instinct with the aggressive spirit that characterized 
the apostolic labors and lay liberality of the first — 
the year of jubilee would come before our ministerial 
neophytes are old enough to superannuate. When the 
church worshipped in caves and dells— was literally in 
the field, marching by day and brvouacing by night, 
it was incincible. When Israel encamped, her apos- 
tasies occurred. The rock of Horeb followed, in 
the wilderness, with Its refreshing waters. It was 
beside the bitter waters of Marah that the Israelites 
murmured. The pillar of the moving cloud told of a 
hot sun on the heavenward side and earthward cool 
sand for the pilgrims' sandals. It is a rolling stone, 
accreting like a snow-ball with every revolution, that 
is to fiU the whole world. It is the handful of corn 
scattered on the mountain-top that is to yield the 
abundant harvest; stored iathe bin it will sweat and 
sprout, but will grow no harvest. The leaven of the 
kingdom spreads. The mustard seed growing, gives 
grateful shade and nests for the birds of heaven. 
Talents turned over — put to usury — double them- 
selves. It's new wood that fruits. A tree cannot 
live on last year's sap. Nothing can warm at a bank 
of leached ashes. The crackling flames make warm 



THE CONQUEST OF THE WORLD. 137 

fire-stones. The Gospel cannot stay unless it goes. 
Brisk breezes, winnowing winds, make pure atmos- 
phere. Bandying billows filter the seas. Floating 
clouds refresh the earth, and replenish the rivers. 
Christianity in circulation gives tonic vigor to the 
Body of Christ. We "whose souls are lighted with wis- 
dom from on high" must bear the lamp of the Gospel 
to earth's benighted. The arithmetic of the Gospel 
is that of progression. Add and multiply and divide 
are its three rudiments. Subtraction is Satan's sole 
principle. If I wanted to light up the world, I 
would not depute a man to go with a torch to light 
a candle held in the hand of each man of earth's vast 
population. I would decree that when the first 
man's candle was lighted he should turn and light 
that of his neighbor, and he the next one to him, 
supposing them distributed within reaching distance 
— and thus multiplying the centres in an increasing 
ratio — the whole world might be lighted up before 
the first man's candle had burned out. So, as each 
soul is lighted, if it would turn and light the souls of 
those nearest, and they, in turn, were to engage in 
the illuminating work, it'would not be long until the 
whole world would shine with the lustre of salvation. 
"The entrance of Thy word giveth light." Put God's 
truth into the souls of men and their faces will shine, 
like that of Moses, coming down from the mount, with 
the glory of God. Their bodies would be full of light, 
and, as through the diaphanous windows of a 
cathedral streams a mellow splendor, their light 
would be seen of men. 



138 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

It is a law of dynamics that bodies moving under 
the impulse of any persistent power traverse space, 
increasing each moment, as I, 3, 5, 7, etc., odd 
numbers, and the entire space is as the square of 
the time. This is equally true in morals and religion. 
We must progress or fall behind. We must press, 
forward or fall by the wayside. Each step gives 
ability to quicken our pace. Ease is a mark of per- 
fection. What a man can do easily he has done often, 
"He giveth power to the faint; and to them that 
have no might He increaseth strength. They that 
wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength ; they 
shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, . 
and not be weary." The unbent bow renews its 
strength to spring its next arrow. The eagle's great- 
est difficulty is in rising from the ground ; the higher 
it flies the swifter it soars, the easier it sails. It 
must mount to get momentum for its quarry. . Racers 
husband strength at the start that they may have 
strength to speed at the last. Diligent working and 
patient waiting mutually complement each other — 
just as a battery at one central point discharges two 
opposite forces, positive and negative, yet complet- 
ing a perfect force. Watch and pray, work and . 
wait, are Gospel twins. Paradoxes, but powers. A 
slight shift of the earth's polarity would trans- 
form the globe. A little more consecration and a 
"nation will be born to God in a day." It takes a 
hundred years of patient elaboration of the elements 
of its growth, from soil, sunshine and shower, to 
blossom the century plant. If God has set in the 



THE CONQUEST OF THE WORLD. 139 

heart of nature that lesson of patience, cannot God 
grow century plants of grace in our hearts? Con- 
fucius impressed himself on the mind of myriads of 
Mongolians. Deep- sea- dredging has brought up 
from the sunless depth 'of the sea cilicious life, which, 
when exposed to the light, displayed all the irrides- 
cent splendors of the rainbow. In the depths of 
Pagan darkness some converted Mandarin or Pundit 
may arise who will, in a generation, transform the 
thoughts of an entire race. Christianity may take 
on the form. of a contagion. God can make spiritual 
health catching, and the great restoration may come 
in a single century. Already colossal charity is 
sporadic. It is the age of Peabodys, Cornells, 
Slaters; Seneys, Richs," Vanderbilts, DePauws, Coop- 
ers, Drews, Woffbrdsj Warrens and Bostwicks. Men 
are becoming their own executors. Christian causes 
are heiring large fortunes. Millions and mites are get- 
ting converted. Alexander the' coppersmith's craft 
is in peril, as was that of the Ephesian shrine-makers. 
Dagon totters before the Ark of the Lord. The 
streams of Siloa's fount run, as the fabled Pactolus, 
over golden sands. It is the age of philanthropy. 
Oberlins, Wilberforces, Howards, Frys, Nightingales, 
Dixs, multiply. The pool of Bethesda is troubled. 
It is the age of exploration, Livingstones, Stan- 
leys, DuChailli, Franklins, Gfe'eleys. The universal 
Yankee will not be content until he lights our cities 
with the Aurora Borealis, and nails his patriot flag 
to the North Pole. It is the age of rapid transit. 
Commerce is shortening its highways and the world 



140 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

is being brought into neighborhood conditions. Man 
has bottled the lightning, and made it polyglotic. 
Cloven tongues of fire are speaking the language of 
Zion. International courts will take the place of 
war. The arbitrament of the sword will yield to the 
decision of reason and righteousness. The anvil 
waits to turn bayonets into pruning hooks, swords 
into ploughshares, and cannons into chimes of church- 
going bells. Apocalyptic thunder peals as the angels 
unstop the vials of God's treasured power. The 
dimpled hand of the- child toys with the mane of the 
liorr: The leopard and the lamb lie down together. 
Beneath my parsonage Lot* the rattling trains speed 
through tunnelled rock. Faith has moved mountains. 
Over my head a great telegraphic lyre sings, and the 
matin of the Atlantic and the vespers of the Pacific 
blend. I hear the whirr of electric wings. The 
chariots of God are rumbling beneath Our feet, and 
the air above our heads is tremulous with the wave 
of angelic plumage. "Can ye not discern the signs 
of the times?" 

" We are living, we are dwelling, 
In a grand and awful time, 
In an age on ages telling 
To be living is sublime." 

The Cross stands at the crossing of all the high- 
ways. Athwart the bosom of every cloud stretches 
the sacred symbol, and tens of thousands of constan- 
tines read the legend, "In this sign conquer." The 
star of love makes its transit of the sun. As in the 

* Jersey City, N.J. 



THE CONQUEST Or THE WORLD. 141 

Southern heavens, no traveler, looking up, cannot fail 
to see the splendid constellation of the Southern 
Cross, so, no one can fail to discern "brightest in 
night's diadem," "light of every pagan sky," the 
ascending star of Bethlehem. The herald of the 
coming daybreak hangs twinkling on the eastern 
horizon. Rosy fingers are reaching up to unlock the 
gates of day. Thej.mountains begin to glow. The 
transfiguration of the earth and sky is at hand. 
"Sing with us, ye heavens!" earth's minstrels shout: 
"The morning cometh, the darkness is past, the 
shadows flee away, the true light shineth now." 
Angels answer the summons, and like an antiphonal 
chorus, send the cheering assurance back: "Thy 
sun shall no more go down ; for the Lord shall be 
thine everlasting light,and the days of thy mourning 
shall be ended." 



•.<* *, 



142 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 



CHAPTER VIII. 
THE MEASURE OF DUTY. 

To what extent are we to honor God with our sub- 
stance? We answer; according to our ability, but with 
not less than one-tenth. Christian beneficence does 
not fix a maximum limit. It holds all. possessions and 
incomes in trust for the Lord. It gives from a prin- 
ciple enthroned in the heartland not from a mere rule 
imposed from without. The Gospel does not reassert 
the tithe principle, but suggests one of a nobler 
character of which the "grace of our Lord Jesus 
Christ" is the type— and. love to Him and His cause 
the inspiring motive. It does not refer to patriarchal 
precedents, or extinct Jewish institutions. It knows 
nothing of a calculating religion, like that exhibited 
by Jacob in his vow : "If God will be with me, and will 
keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread 
to eat, and raiment to put on ; of all that thou shalt 
give me I will surely give the tenth unto Thee." 
(Gen. xxviii. 20.) 

The hymn of the consecrated heart is : 

" To Thee our Covenant God. 
We'll our whole selves resign, 
And count that not our Tenth alone 
But all we have is thine." 

John Wesley advised : "Make all you can, save 
.all you can, give all you can." Certainly if Christ 



THE MEASURE OF DUTY. 143 

commended the poor widow who gave the two mites, 
"all the living she had," the rich, of their abund- 
ance, must give more than a tenth of their income 
to expect His approbation. The law of tithes has 
no'just application to the rich. No fixed standard 
can control their contributions. Their gifts must be 
according to the "ability" they have, and must 
proceed from spontaneous generosity, or rather from 
a divinely-prompted feeling of liberality. 

But it would greatly assist us to understand what 
the Lord would have us to do by familiarizing our- 
selves with what God did, under the Jewish theoc- 
racy, require of Israel. 

. The fact that Abram gave tithes to the priest of 
the most high God (Gen. xiv: 19, 20.) and that 
Jacob at Bethel vowed, " of all that Thou shalt give 
me I will surely give the tenth unto Thee " — clearly 
indicates that the doctrine of "the tenth is the Lords'' — 
existed prior to the giving of the Mosaic law. 

Indeed, the doctrine of divine ownership and 
human stewardship, and the custom based on it, seems 
to be a dictate of natural religion. Xenophon gives 
us an inscription upon a pillar standing near the 
Temple of Diana, admonishing the people to offer 
annually the tenth of their revenues to the Goddess. 
The Romans offered a tenth of the spoils of war to 
their gods. Festus affirms that the ancients gave a 
tithe of everything to their gods. Caesar records 
that the Gauls offered a tenth to their ' 'god of battles. " 
It is not questioned that the custom was practiced in 
the patriarchal ages, and that God raised it to the 



144 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

dignity of a law, and laid its observance on Israel. 
A failure to pay it was regarded as a robbery of God. 
(Mai. iii: 8.) The tithe is the Lord's, ''the pos- 
sessor of heaven and earth." (Gen. xiv: 19,22.) 

David made the devout confession, "All things 
come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee." 

The Gospel is the enlargement of ihe spirit and 
practice of religion. It abolishes "the burdensome 
ceremonial rites of the Levitical Dispensation, but it 
expands all the great principles of, piety. Christians 
are not, therefore, to do less, but more than was 
required of the Jews. All — both rich and poor — are 
to act under the direction of the benevolent spirit of 
Christ. The Holy Ghost writes on every regenerate 
heart, — "none liveth unto himself." A divine charity 
is, by grace, planted in the heart. The native roots 
of selfishness are plucked up. "For me to live is 
Christ " is the formula of consecration. We are to 
give not only money, but time, talents, influence, 
example. Some devote to purposes of piety and 
deeds of charity much more than- a tenth, of their 
time, talents and labor, and hence, the available 
income in dollars and cents is made so small as to 
render the giving of a tenth of that well nigh im- 
possible. Personal services are, when well employed, 
equivalent to money, and a mere mathematical 
application of the tithe-law would work an injustice, 
in some cases, where these are rendered. Did -not 
Jesus give the highest commendation when he said 
of the woman, "She hath done what she could!"? 
The christian principle is thoroughly stated when it 



THE MEASURE OF DUTY. 145 

is said, we arc to do all we can in the fear of God and 
out of lore to Christ. The measure of our gifts must 
be estimated on the basis of the necessities of the 
cause and the ability to help in view of the incentives. 
There are those who object to church assessments, 
but the tithe system was a divinely legislated plan of 
assessment. The Jews were assessed the tenth of all 
they produced, as you will perceive by referring to 
Lev. xxvii: 30, 33; Num. xviii : 21, 24; Deut. xiv:22. 
The tax included a tenth of everyone's income, of 
his cattle, sheep, kids, grain, vegetables, fruits, wine, 
oil, and even the mint by the garden wall. Every- 
thing was assessed for the support of the Jewish 
Church. And the church-part had to be of the besL 
No sobby wood, weevil-eaten wheat, tainted meat,, 
or frost-bitten fruits. "All the best of the oil, and 
all the best of the wine, and of the wheat, the first 
fruits of them which they shall offer unto the Lord 
— them have I (Aaron) givenThee." (Num. xviii: 12.) 
Even the first born male children had to be redeem- 
ed from the priest (a poll tax paid on them) of five 
shekels of silver. Field, garden, fold and herd, 
were assessed. If the pagan idolators gave a tenth 
at their shrines — the Jew, in an inferior dispensation 
of God's mercy, was required to offer a tenths — shall 
we, who live in the fullness of time, and enjoy the 
blessed Gospel of saving and supporting grace, think- 
that we ought to do less? But the Jews, when they 
paid their assessment, added to it numerous gifts. 
They gave a portion of their first fruits, wheat, bar- 
ley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives and honey 



146 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

{Deut. xviii: 4.) The quantity was not fixed by 
statute, but each donor gave as his generosity 
prompted. They also gave of the first articles man- 
ufactured. (Deut. xxii : 29; Lev. xxii : 14.) Indeed, 
to meet the fixed assessments and the perquisites it 
is calculated that every Israelite paid of his income 
one-fifth. 

When the "sons of Jacob" apostatized from this 
liberality, and expended their resources upon their 
own lusts, God accused them of downright robbery 
and cursed them with a curse for withholding their 
"tithes and offerings" (Mai. iii : 8, 12.) The pros- 
perity of Israel was suspended on the liberality of 
Israel. God cursed them for neglecting their priests 
and the altar, (Deut. xxviii : 15.) and blessed them 
when they repented and returned and brought tithes 
iinto the storehouse. 

If history be "philosophy teaching by example," 
we cannot be at a loss to learn from God's dealings 
with His ancient people that which may profit us. 
Though we have changed the day of our Sabbath, we 
yet observe for sacred use one-seventh of our time. 
We do not infer that we shall give God no more than 
one-seventh, but that we can give him no less. We 
observe days of prayer and fasting and thanksgiving. 
So, under the Gospel we act under an expansive 
principle of benevolence. W r e cannot conclude that 
we can do less than give one-tenth of our income to 
the Lord's treasury. We are not to overlook the 
fact that Christianity has passed into State institu- 
tions, forms of charity that are supported by taxation, 



THE MEASURE OF DUTY. 147 

such as public schools, almshouses, reformatories, 
insane asylums, schools and hospitals for the deaf 
and dumb and blind and imbecile. Christian wealth 
flows through these channels. The christian must 
cultivate the feeling of cheerfulness with reference to 
such taxation for humane purposes, and not pay 
his taxes with a reluctant spirit. Covetousness may 
find vent in the shape of grudging objections to these 
benefactions of society. The payment of such taxes 
with a "willing mind," a cheerful disposition, be- 
cause of the good the money does the ignorant and 
unfortunate, may be made a means of grace to 
christian tax-payers. When questions of taxation 
for eleemosynary purposes are submitted at the polls, 
the christian voter must see that covetousness 
does not determine the casting of his ballot. Taxa- 
tion enforced by the will of others may do society 
good, but, unless there be a cheerful assent, upon 
the part of the tax-payer, it will not do" him any 
good. "Though I bestow all my goods to feed the 
poor, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing." 
Dean Swift said: "Whoever can make two blades 
of grass to grow where only one grew before deserves 
better of mankind, and does more essential service 
to his country than the whole parliament of politicians 
put together." This is true only of a parliament of 
selfists and corruptionists. A legislature may be a 
great power for philanthropy, and the christian man 
has the power in it for great good. There are coarse 
utilitarian natures always crying out "what good?" 
Why was not this ointment sold and the money given 



148 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

to the poor, instead of wasted on the dusty feet of this 
travel-stained stranger? Why was not this appro- 
priation made to dig a canal, to open a mine, to 
grade a railroad, or withheld altogether, to lighten 
the burden of taxation, instead of being expended on 
this herd of unremunerative beneficiaries? Society does 
not exist in governmental forms merely for gross 
material ends. In our christian land and age no man 
is worthy of being dignified as a statesman who does 
not include the highest practicable education of the 
people, and the greatest possible mitigation of the 
wants and woes of a suffering humanity, within the 
compass of his civil policy. He may be silver-voiced 
in the Senate and trumpet-tongued upon the hustings, 
and have a knowledge of all the diplomatic arts and 
the shrewdness of parliamentary finesse^ but unless 
he speaks, schemes and sweats for the elevation of 
his constituency, in mind and morals, and an abate- 
ment of the wretchedness of those who are the 
victims of hereditary or accidental misfortunes, he 
cannot rightfully wear the toga and title of an Amer- 
ican statesman. When the loftier impulses of an 
unselfish patriotism and philanthropy desert the 
breasts of our publicists, then the Senates of the 
Republic will be transformed from an Areopagus of 
wise and honorable men into a gladiatorial ring. 
There are multitudes now, alas, crying out against 
every charity of the State, and it is the voice of a 
mob insane with vicious propensities and deaf to the 
entreaties of those who voice the plea of mercy. 
Aye, my readers, lay your ear to the ground, and 



THE MEASURE OF DUTY. 149 

see if you cannot hear the heavy thud of the pick- 
axes of the sappers and miners at work on the 
foundations of the Temple of Liberty ! 

Why should the legislator degrade his high office 
to that of a mere money-changer, trafficking in the 
very portico of that temple dedicated, by christian 
civilization, to purposes of the most sacred character? 
Why should he consent to be a mere prison warden, 
a whipman and an executioner, when it is his prerog- 
ative to conserve all that is true and beautiful in 
society? Why, wearing a Gorgon's head and bear- 
ing the knout or the sword in his avenging hand, 
should he appear before the people as a mere sheriff 
or^ turn-key of justice, and not as the advocate and 
fearless friend of all that is good in the sight of God 
and the pure? If terror of offended law, and the 
great dividends of bloated corporations, measure the 
altitude of his aspirations and the breadth of his 
attributes, then his station is no more dignified than 
the constable who whips, the sheriff who ties the 
fatal noose, or the actuary who counts up, and 
divides, and pays the coupons of covetousness. A 
legislator, deserving of the title, should covet honor 
and renown by marking the pathway of his public 
career with sculptured monuments of mercy, rather 
than parading through his career as some Apollyon 
of fear, brandishing his dart from his mailed and 
punitive hand. Blessed be the legislator of charity ! 
Blessed be the statesmen who have struck their 
names into the rock because of the music of Advent 
night and the sentiment of the angel's song and 



150 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

the shining choristers on which the Star of Beth- 
lehem shone ! 

In the Vatican at Rome there is a fresco, unmarred 
by the three hundred years that have passed since it 
was painted, which is Raphael's grandest picture — 
the Transfiguration. Standing in the midst of the 
wondering group, with transformed countenance and 
shining raiment, is the Savior, — Moses and Elias, the 
Celestial embassadors, occupying positions at His 
right; while prostrate in adoring awe and astonish- 
ment, beneath the over-canopying cloud, are James, 
John and Peter, gazing at their transfigured Master, 
with hands over their eyes to shelter their dazed 
vision from the direct rays of the God-glory. 
With that wonderful conceptive power which made 
the painter a master of the pencil, he portrays another 
group waiting for Jesus at the foot of the hill. 
Among the skeptical scribes, the baffled lawyers, the 
puzzled physicians, is a poor possessed boy, writhing, 
foaming and gnashing his teeth, while his demoniac 
eyes, in their wild, rolling agony, already catch a 
glimpse of Christ in His glory on the summit of the 
mount. Peter wanted to build permanent taberna- 
cles and abide there. Suppose Jesus had stayed 
there with this select company, and refused to suffer- 
ing humanity His example of sorrow, agony and 
death, what would have been the fate of the world? 
Where would have been the poor stricken children of 
earth? But He came down from the mountain, and 
here we are, and cold and callous is the heart and 
deaf the ear that does not hear Him say: " Inasmuch 



THE MEASURE OF DUTY. 151 

as ye did it unto one of the least of these, ye did it 
unto me." No longer is He here to heal with a 
touch the blind, to bid the lame leap for joy, and to 
dispossess the soul of the demons of ignorance, imbe- 
cility or madness. But we are here to represent Him. 
The era of miraculous power being gone, Christian 
benevolence, inspiring the intellect to fresh energies, 
has come in to occupy the place ; and though no zeal 
of charity, no charm of science, can, as the Great 
Physician, heal disordered minds, they, nevertheless, 
abate sin's pain-giving prerogatives, and startle its 
drear empire with a message and mission of cheer. 

It is a distinguished characteristic of our civiliza- 
tion, that society includes within its humane care 
every unfortunate subject of want and woe. In all 
savage lands, physical power is the supreme, domi- 
nating influence, cruelly neglecting all who can not 
care for themselves; and, if the strong permit the 
weak to live, they are tolerated only that they may be 
made to contribute to their wants or passions. 

Among a Pagan people but little concern is felt for 
the victims of infirmity and helplessness. Woman 
is yoked to the plow, locked up in the harem, out- 
lawed her husband's board and denied the boon of 
immortality. Female children are regarded as curses, 
treated as pests, reared for the slave market, bartered 
to lust, or gaoled in the seraglios. Even culture, 
unleavened by christian grace, proved inadequate to 
,the suppression of cruelty, and to order the practice 
of benevolence, in the palmiest days of Greece and 
Rome. The names of Tiberius, Caligula, Nero, 



152 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

Caracalla, start a shiver of repulsion through the 
blood. Such was the cruelty of the Romans to 
their aged slaves that it was not uncommon to banish 
them to an island in the Tiber to perish by neglect, 
and it was not infrequent that their flesh was fed to 
the fishes in the piscatories of the Princes. Gladia- 
torial shows, in which the captives of war fought 
with wild beasts, and were crushed by their ravenous 
jaws, or torn and mangled by their claws, were the 
favorite arena-performances in the crowded amphi- 
theatre. 

Even among the classic Athenians, the abandon- 
ment of one's child to starvation or to ferocious 
beasts was tolerated without criticism or censure. 
Solon gave the law permitting parents to kill their 
children when poverty or infirmity made them a bur- 
den. Plato and Aristotle approved and commended 
the bloody code. Enterprises looking to the benef- 
icent care of the old, the widowed, the orphaned, 
the unfortunate, the paupered, were totally unknown 
to the age of Alcibiades and Pericles, when Greece 
was literally garlanded with the products of genius, 
and to the age of Augustus Caesar, the patron of 
art and letters, whose court was crowded with poets, 
orators, philosophers, artists and warriors. Corinth, 
Athens, Rome, were embellished with temples for 
the gods — Pantheons and Parthenons; giant statues, 
wrought by the chisels of Praxiteles and Phidias, in 
ivory, marble and gold, stood among their fanes; city 
gates, sculptured over with allegorical scenes, whose 
artistic excellence is admired to this day, were the 



THE MEASURE OF DUTY. 153 

portals of their mural defences; triumphal arches, all 
decorated with costly carvings and inlay of pearls and 
precious stones, spanned the streets ; the Acropolis 
and Capitoline hills were crowned and crowded with 
the products of taste and refinement — but no summit 
or vale was blessed with a hospital, asylum, infirmary, 
or a school for the mute, blind and imbecile. Public 
charities were unknown. Benevolence mixed no 
colors for the painter's canvas, quarried no marble 
for the sculptor's chisel, strung no lyre for tlje 
muse's thrill, cut no ashlers for humanity's temple, 
wove no garlands for rhetoric's periods, formulated 
no logic for the schoolman's subtlety, forged no 
armor for the warrior's breast, furnished no fagots 
for Vesta's fires, brought no tears to Venus' eyes, 
and pleaded no cause in Themis' court. 

But what a transition Christ wrought when he 
traced the paths of love with the footprints of mercy 
from the cradle to the cross, from Bethlehem to bliss! 
What a transfiguration of misery His transforming 
spirit worked! His Gospel was glad tidings to the 
poor, the sick, the stranger, the orphan, the widow, 
the old and the unfortunate — no matter what the 
mark of misery. It connected the offertory with the 
communion, and made the giving of alms a means of 
grace. It made a welcome for the sandaled stranger 
and a bath for his bare and blistered feet ; it built 
orphanages for the fatherless, homes for the widowed, 
alms-houses for the poor ; it was eyes to the blind, 
ears to the deaf, a staff to the lame, balm to the 
wounded, medicine to the sick, freedom for the slave, 



154 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

reason for the demoniac, mercy for the Magdalen, 
forgiveness for the thief, pity for the apostate, Salva- 
tion for the Sinner. When Christ came, the lame 
leaped for joy, the eyes of the blind were couched, 
the sick were healed of their maladies, little children 
were exalted by his blessing, the possessed and de- 
mented felt his demon-expelling and mind-restoring 
power, the bier gave up its dead, and the grave be- 
came a cradle of life. No matter now, how weak and 
warped the child, or how bent and battered the old, 
mercy is the nurse of the helpless, at either extreme 
of life. The prisoner of war no longer sates the raven- 
ing appetite of the Numidian lion, but compassion 
steals to the captive's side, kisses his chains, and melts 
their rivets. Woman has been emancipated from her 
servitude to lust and her slavery to appetite, and 
sphered amid the higher lights of our civilization, 
like the Apocalyptic Angel standing in the sun. 
Pestilence no longer, unchallenged, stalks with 
stealthy step through the slums of vice, and leaves 
her swollen victims to fester where they fell; but, 
the light of love descends upon the path of the 
plague, disinfects its feculent breath, and gives gentle 
quarantine to the fugitive from its fury. 

Little children, since He blessed them, and said, 
despise them not, gambol in innocent glee on the 
sunny slopes of youth, while a protection stronger 
than the shield of law is spread over their heads ; old 
age enjoys "light at the eventide," and puts on its 
noblest crown when the almond tree nourishes, and 
"the grasshopper is a burden ; " palatial homes and 



THE MEASURE OF DUTY. 155 

schools crown the verdant summits for the blind and 
mute ; and poor idiot children are gathered up, and 
borne in the arms of a gracious and generous State 
to a refuge, where learning and love combine to fan 
into a flame the vital spark that smolders amid the 
ashes of impaired intellect. Benevolence, all stranger 
to the classic capitals of antiquity, is now the wel- 
come guest of every society; aye, is domiciled and 
has gone to housekeeping in every city. 

The Great Teacher taught those heavenly-descend- 
ed lessons that now underlie and overtop the 
institutions of all enlightened nations. His doctrines 
have not only regenerated sinners, but States. 
Through the benign influence of His lessons of 
wisdom and love, the dependent classes of society 
have been elevated from that condition of ignorance, 
tyranny and contempt, which history chronicles, to 
a plane of privileges with any and all; while educa- 
tion sheds its light, even as the sun, through the 
window of the thatched cottage as brightly as 
though the oriel of the lordly mansion, and religion, 
catches up the torch of salvation, and, threading the 
night of gloom, seeks the- lost, and leads them recov- 
ered, redeemed and regenerated out into the abound- 
ing air and the open sunshine. The fruits of 
Christianity certainly justify the confession of the 
infidel Bolingbroke : " No religion ever appeared in 
the world whose natural tendency was so much 
directed to promote the peace and happiness of man- 
kind. It makes right reason a law in every sense of the 
word. And, therefore, even supposing it to have 



156 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

been a purely human invention, it has been the 
most amiable and most useful invention that was 
ever imposed on mankind for their good." 

The State, catching the spirit of christian benevo- 
lence, is fast becoming a corporate benefactor of 
the afflicted. 

Love is, to the gift, what color and fragrance are 
to the flower, — what incense was to the temple 
sacrifice. Like the philosopher's stone, which turned 
all it touched into gold, it imparts new grace and 
quality to every act. It adds incalculable value, in 
the estimate of God, to the widow's mite, or the 
cup of cold water given a disciple in the spirit of 
Christ-love. The Gospel conducts its disciples to 
Calvary and there bids them view the cross, and to 
be quickened into generosity by the faith and feeling 
it inspires. When St. Paul would exhort the Phil- 
lippians to "look not every man on his own things, 
but every man also on the things of others," he tells 
them of the mind which was in "Christ Jesus: who, 
being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to 
be equal with God: but made himself of no reputa- 
tion, and took upon himself the form of a servant, 
and was made in the likeness of men : and being 
found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and 
became obedient unto death, even the death of the 
cross." (Phil, ii: 7, 8.) "Let this mind be in you, 
which was also in Christ Jesus." (Phil, ii : 5.) 

Except your righteousness shall exceed the right- 
eousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no 
case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. (Math, v : 20.) 



THE MEASURE OF DUTY. _ 157 

At a negro meeting three resolutions were adopted: 
r I. We will all give. 

2. We will all give according to our ability. 

3. We will all give cheerfully. 

One who came up with his gift, but not proportioned 
to his ability, was not allowed to put it down. Pres- 
ently, he came up with the amount, but in a surly 
manner, and again the chairman would not permit 
him to deposit. He resumed his seat, reflected on 
his. course, was warmed by the happy singing, and 
with full amount and a beaming face he marched up 
to the table with his subscription. "There," said 
the chairman, "that is now according to the three 
resolutions." 

The gift is mean unless it is all required. " Unto 
whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much 
required." (Luke xii : 48.) 

The gift is not of the kind that does the giver 
good, unless it be gracefully, cheerfully done. "As 
there was a readiness to will, so there may be a per- 
formance also out of that which ye have. For if 
there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according 
to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath 
not. " (II Cor. viii : 11,12.) Until a man can give cheer- 
fully, he has not measured up to the Gospel standard. 
His gift is the salad, his cheerfulness the condiment with 
which it is dressed and made palatable. The Apos- 
tolic rule for doing "all to the glory of God" will 
contribute to a happy spirit. "A rich man should 
do with his wealth what the poor man should do 
with his wages — get the good oj it ',"■ (Dr. Deems.) A 



158 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

christian ought to get a great deal of good out of 
giving. It ought to make him happy to get because 
of the joy attending the giving it away. 

The fact is that it is not one-tenth that belongs 
unto the Lord, but ten-tenths. What portion be- 
longs to the Lord? All! Even that which we use 
ourselves is His. ''Whether, therefore, ye eat, or 
drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of 
God." (I Cor. x: 31.) Zaccheus said, "the half of 
my goods I give to the poor." Zaccheus was half 
right. Disabuse the mind of ownership. Use it to 
stewardship. Study to place your money where it 
will do the most good. "Blessed is the man that 
cansidereth the poor. " 

To talk about what we owe to the Lord seems a 
blasphemy. How much is meant in the hymn ! — 

" But drops of grief can ne'er repay, 
The debt of love L owe , 
Here Lord, I give myself away, 
'Tis all that I can do." 

Christ points to his Cross — and then to his cause; 
and says to believers, trying to calculate what they 
must pay by reckoning up the cost of selfish gratifi- 
cations, " Lovest thou me more than these?" Oh, 
brother, are you puzzled about how much you must 
give away? Go to the source of light, wearing the 
cross on your breast; "If any of you lack wisdom, 
let him ask of God." The answer from a throne of 
grace will tell you how much. In all our reading we 
have never seen anything more sensible than the 



THE MEASURE OF DUTY. 159 

ideas of* Rev. Wm. Arthur, D. D., from which we 
condense the following : 

" I . All persons having equal incomes are not bound 
to give equal sums, however their other circum- 
stances vary. Size of family, expense of living in 
different localities, difference in station or office, may 
decide the proportion. 

"2. All persons are not required to give the same 
proportion of their incomes, however its gross 
amount may vary. One may give a tenth and feel 
it because of an income barely at the living point. 
Another, by reasons of prosperity, may give a half 
and then be puzzled to spend the other half. 

"3. Persons are not bound to give away all their 
income so as to admit of no increase of capital, or 
extension of business. To be honestly rich is no 
crime. Trusting in 'uncertain riches,' high-mind- 
edness is sinful. A man may enjoy the fruits of his 
labor which the Lord has blessed. With capital and 
skill he may make money with which to do more 
good. 'Rich in good works/ if he is 'ready to 
distribute,' 'willing to communicate,' in the degree 
in which the Lord prospers, then he may get, ' richly 
enjoy,' and give. A man may not innocently make 
the costs of the pride of life, houses, furniture, 
pictures, parks, servants, travel, an excuse for with- 
holding from the Lord. Job was upright, fearing 
God, eschewing evil, when the richest man in all the 

* A small book entitled " The Duty of Giving Away a Stated Part 
of Our Income," ha,s been reprinted in America by the Presbyterian 
Board of Publication. Philadelphia, 1857. 



160 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

East; but note, that while his children were holding 
family feasts and the joy of abundance was in their 
homes, he was 'continually' rising early, going to 
the altar of God, and offering up offerings in large 
number. And how did he live among his neighbors, 
while thus honoring God? "When the ear heard 
me, then it blessed me ; and when the eye saw me, 
it gave witness to me: because I delivered the poor 
that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none 
to help him. The blessing of him that was ready to 
perish came upon me : and I caused the widow's 
heart to sing for joy. ... I was eyes to the blind, 
and feet was I to the lame. I was a father to the 
poor: and the cause which I knew not I searched 
out." (Job. xxix: 11-15.) Thus continually and 
liberally offer unto God ; thus bountifully distribute 
to man ; and so long as we see you so doing, may 
your "garners be full, affording all manner of store." 
May the Lord ' ' bless the work of your hands, and 
may your substance be increased in the land." Thus 
observing a cheerful liberality, it is legitimate to let 
" riches increase," but the truth has fair statement in 
the following principles : 

"That not to give away any part of our income 
is unlawful. 

"That to leave what we shall give to be deter- 
mined by impulse or chance, without any principle 
to guide us, is unlawful. 

"That to fix a principle for our guidance, by our 
own disposition, or by prevalent usage, without 
seeking light in the word of God, is unlawful. 



THE MEASURE OF DUTY. 161 

"That when we search the scriptures for a prin- 
ciple, the very lowest portion of our income for 
which we can find any show of justification, is a tenth 
of the whole. 

"That, therefore, it is our duty to give away 
statedly, for the service and honor of our God, at 
the very least, one-tenth of all which he commits to 
our stewardship." 

Is it lawful for a christian to be more selfish than 
was permitted a Jew? 

Is the gospel enlarging in every other respect and 
minifying with respect to money? Giving is an 
essential characteristic of the christian religion. God 
gave his son. (Jno. iii : 16.) "Thanks be to God for 
the unspeakable gift.'' (II Cor. ix: 15.) Christ gave 
his life. He "loved me and gave himself for me." 
(Gal. ii: 20.) The Holy Spirit is a free gift. "And 
when Simon saw that through laying on of the 
apostles' hands the Holy Ghost was give?i ) he offered 
them money. . . But Peter said unto him, Thy money 
perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the 
gift of God may be purchased with money." (Acts 
viii: 18, 19.) Do we lack wisdom? We have but 
to ' 'ask it of God that giveth unto all men liberally 
and upbraideth not ; and it shall be given him. " (Jas. 
i: 5.) It is at the basis of philanthropy: "Cast 
thy bread upon the waters : for thou shalt find it after 
many days. Give a portion to seven, and also to 
eight ; for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon 
the earth. " (Ec. xi: 1, 2.) The rice sower sees his 
seed sink and disappear. So with many a philan- 



162 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

thropic enterprise. It finds little favor in its day; 
it seems to fail of lodgment in an adequate number 
of minds ; the sower desponds ; but a divine germ 
was in the love-grain, it dies to live, and ere the 
husbandman is aware the subsiding water discloses it 
green and growing, and after a long waiting it yields 
a glorious harvest.. God's word always has vitality 
at its heart and never returns unto him void. The 
conversion of the world is to be a present ensuing 
prayer. ' 'Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen 
for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the 
earth for thy possession." (Psalm ii: 8.) He that 
observeth the wind shall not sow ; and he that regard- 
eth the clouds shall not reap. In the morning sow 
thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thy hand : 
for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this 
or that, or whether they shall be alike good. " (Ec. xl : 
4, 6.) Sow beside all waters, sow in tears. God's 
waft is on the wind, his moisture beside the river 
and in your eyes. Do the right deed, speak the 
fit word. Do it in faith ; prayerfully commit and 
commend it to God. Wafted beyond your ken, the 
All-seeing Eye follows it ; and whether on a time or 
eternal shore, the reaper will bind his sheaves. 

Then scatter the seed-corn 

While ye may, 
• Old time is fast a-fleeting, 
And the golden grain 

Ye sow to-day, 
To-morrow ye'll be greeting. 

The harvest shall answer to the sowing; scant seed- 
scattering, then small sheaves and shocks. Bountifully, 
cheerfully, and not from "necessity," from pressure, 



THE MEASURE OF DUTY. - 163 

shame, pride, " grudgingly, " and the Lord of the 
Harvest will give back an hundred-fold. "Faith 
working by love " disdains arithmetic. Talk of tithes ! 
Just as well speak of one-tenth interest in Christ's 
blood. The atonement is not divisible. We sing, 
"had I a thousand hearts, Lord, they should all be 
thine," and then calculate having a thousand dollars 
above food and raiment wherewith to be content to 
put nine hundred into our hoard, or spend it in self- 
gratification. A salvation that is to the "uttermost," 
requires an uttermost consecration. Jesus did not 
redeem ten per cent, of you ; neither can you give 
him ten per cent, of your service and money. Is 
your fortune locked up in stocks, houses and lands 
so that you have nothing to give? Then "Sell 
that ye have, and give alms ; provide yourselves 
baes which wax not old, — a treasure in the heav- 
ens" beyond the cunning of thieves, and the gnaw- 
ing of moth, ' ' for where your treasure is, there will 
your heart be also." Do you want your treasure 
in "old bags?" They will rot Your unused 
money will rust, and its "rust shall be a witness 
against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire." 
But you have saved for your children. Within 
reasonable limits this is commendable and you are a 
public benefactor, ' ' for he who starts in life a com- 
petitor in the labor market, and leaves it in a condi- 
tion to employ others, does a general service." But 
may you not be disquieting yourself in vain, heaping 
up riches, knowing not who shall gather them. 
What if your daughter marries a spendthrift, and 



164 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

your son be a prodigal, wasting his substance upon 
harlots and in riotous living ? What if all your skill 
and sweat and saving go to enrich the courtesan and 
saloon-keeper? What if your thrift be turned into a 
curse to consume your children, and blight, instead 
of bless, humanity ? Had you not better put a goodly 
portion of your wealth where it will bless the world 
when you are in the world above, and let the 
rivulet you started widen and deepen until it 
becomes an Amazon of good?- Would it not 
be wise to save something for yourself by laying 
up treasure above, putting in a good foundation 
against the time to come ? 4 'As with our life, so with 
our money; he that saveth his money shall lose it; 
and he who, for the Lord's sake and the Gospel's 
sake, loses his wealth shall find it. The only money 
we save for ourselves is what we give to the Lord." 
(Dr. Arthur.) 

On a crumbling monument in the parish Church 
of Leek, Staffordshire, England, is this quaint epitaph: 

" As I was, so be ye ; 
As I am, ye snail be ; 
That I gave, that I have ; 
What I spent, that I had ; 
Thr.s I end all my cost ; 
What I left, that I lost." 

When God requires thy soul ' ' then whose shall 
these things (much goods and riches) be, which thou 
hast provided ? So is he that layeth up treasure for 
himself, and is not richMvards God.'' (Lukexii:20, 21.) 
Lazarus died rich ; Dives poor. ' 'Who dies rich ? He 
who, whether he leaves much or little, or nothing 



TI1K MEASURE OF DUTY. 165 

behind him, has treasure laid up in heaven. He 
dies rich. Who dies poor? He who, whatever he 
leaves behind him, has nothing laid up before him. 
He dies poor." (Dr. Arthur.) Make certain of the 
"unsearchable riches of Christ." Get a good bank 
account in heaven. 

But let not the poor think they are exempt from 
giving. "He who delights in mercy has never yet 
denied the poor the joy of giving." Did the stable- 
born, homeless Jesus "think it a pity that the widow 
should give away her two mites ? Or did he tell Mary 
that the costly box of spikenard was too much for 
one of her means? Would he have listened to the 
lad if he had begged to keep his lunch instead of 
giving it up to feed the multitude ? ' ' The boy had left, 
more than he contributed. And when the prophet 
heard from the widow of whom he had begged a 
little bread, that she was so poor as to say, ' ' I have 
not a cake," did he think it would be a loss to her to 
give, for the Lord's sake, a little of her meal? St. 
Paul plainly contemplates giving as the immediate 
result of labor in the case of one recovered from a 
clan of thieves. "Let him that stole steal no more: 
but rather let him labor, working with his hands 
the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him 
that needethy (Eph. iv: 28.) If then, a reformed thief, 
just beginning to earn his own bread, is at once to 
set before him the joy of giving away a share of his 
earnings ; who dare degrade the working men of 
Christendom, by telling them they are to look on 
themselves as meant only to feed their own wants? 



166 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

O, what a blessing had it been to many a poor work- 
ing man, what a saving to his means, what a comfort 
to his home, had his father trained him to honor the 
Lord with the first fruits of all his increase ! 

'-' 'But there are those whom we do not call the poor ^ wlw 
yet ai-e in more straits than they — persons of small means and 
respectable position.' I should be the last man on earth 
to press hard on that class. There are no sorrows I 
would hold more sacred than theirs, who unite in 
themselves the feeling of the rich and the fortunes of 
the poor. Poverty is a cold wind, and the higher 
your situation, the colder it blows. But this is to be 
said: However sacred may be the claims of respec- 
tability, or the desire to honor your family, and keep 
up appearances, more sacred still are the claims of 
gratitude, piety and goodness. Nor will it ever 
prove that what you painfully spare your own 
respectability for the purpose of honoring your God, 
will fail to bring back its reward. ' Those that honor 
Me will I honor.'" (Dr. Arthur.) 



SYSTEMATIC BENEVOLENCE. !<>< 



CHAPTER IX. 
SYSTEMATIC BENEVOLENCE. 

The Plan. — " Upon the first day of the week let 
every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath 
prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I 
come." (I Cor. xvi: 2.) 

The Principle. — According to ability — "as God 
hath prospered him." Prosperity depends upon 
dutiful giving. To give is to get. "Honor the 
Lord with thy substance, and with the first fruits of 
all thine increase ; so shall thy barns be filled with 
plenty." Why should a christian be afraid to try 
that promise more than "Believe on the Lord Jesus 
Christ, and thou shalt be saved?" The one is not a 
rotten plank and the other a bridge of iron. Both 
will carry the pressure trust can put upon them. 

It is also made an assurance of spiritual blessing, 
and rests on the divine ability to reward liberality 
with grace. Christ "is able to save to the utter- 
most" all that come unto God by him. So is he 
able to make a lean soul fat. "God is able to make 
all grace abound toward you ; that ye, always having 
all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every 
good work ; . . . being enriched in every thing to 
all bountifulness." To be stingy is to stint the soul. 
If God gives his Son, and Christ gives his life, ought 
not you to give as you are able, to confer the bless- 



168 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

ing of the gospel on others ? Was Christ to empty 
himself to save you, and shall not his love constrain 
you to try and save others ? ' ' For ye know the 
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he 
was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor, that ye, 
through his poverty, might be rich." On this Dr. 
W. M. Taylor remarks: "The bringing of such a 
motive to bear on so simple a thing as the making of 
a contribution for the poor saints of Jerusalem, 
seems like cracking a nut with a -mammoth steam- 
hammer. But Paul knew what he was about when 
he dictated these words. He wanted to exalt and 
consecrate all christian beneficence by having it done 
from the most powerful christian motive. And 
after the presentation of such a motive there is no 
more to be said. For when men know the grace of 
Christ they will never feel that they have given him 
enough ; and till they know it they will never give 
him anything. They may contribute to keep up 
appearances, or to be like other people, or to gain a 
reputation, but they will never give to him until they 
know his grace. This is the very pith and marrow 
of the matter. Before men give to Christ they must 
receive from him ; and when they receive Christ 
himself unto their hearts, they will be impelled to 
give — impelled, not compelled — for the delight and the 
duty will coincide, or, rather, the duty will be 
merged in the delight. So we come around to the 
point at which we set out — a revived church will 
become a giving church. And a giving church is 
the fore-herald of a converted world." 



SYSTEMATIC BENEVOLENCE. 1(39 

Enriched by Christ's blood, you are under bond to 
make his condescending love known to others : 

" I gave My life for thee, 
My precious blood 1 shed, 
That thou might 'st ransomed be 
And quickened from the dead. 
I gave My life for thee ; 
What hast thou done forme ? " 

Dare you answer that question and tighten your 
purse-strings? If your pocket-book is not regener- 
ated, question the regeneration of your heart. 

Who Must Give. — "Every one." There are no 
privileged classes in this matter. Parents and 
children must give. As you cannot save your 
children by attorneyship, neither can you give for 
them. Give to them that they may give and enjoy the 
blessing attached to this grace, and be "brought 
up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord," in 
the principle and practice of liberality, as in faith 
and hope, in prayer and praise. Standing before 
the sacred treasury be able to say, " Here, Lord, am 
I, and the children thou hast given me." 

When to Give. — Periodically — regularly. Culti- 
vate the habit of giving. "Man is a bundle of 
habits." Doing a thing often makes it easy. The 
stated time is the holy Sabbath — "on the first day 
of the week." Nothing ought to be done on the 
Sabbath that is not religious. The Bible commands 
that giving should be done on the Sabbath ; there- 
fore, it is an act of worship. "Remember the 
Sabbath day to keep it holy." Remember to give 
on the Lord's day, for giving is an element of 



170 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

holiness. "It is lawful to do good on the Sabbath 
day." A Fiji convert offered to give in advance the 
entire sum he proposed to contribute at one time. 
The wise pastor said, "No; pay in weekly install- 
ments. If you only open a door once a year, the 
hinges will get rusty." 

Take an account of stock and strike a conscien- 
tious balance, deducting the debt you owe the Lord 
for the prosperity granted you ; ' ' lay by in store " for 
the Sabbath collection. As well go to the house of 
God prayerless, as praiseless and purseless. As oft 
as ye take the sacrament you do it in remembrance 
of the Savior. Do it often that duty may be habit- 
ually performed, and "that you may be blessed in 
the deed." Let not the collection plate be to you 
"a stone of offense." Let it be an Ebenezer. 

The Spirit. — "He which soweth sparingly shall 
reap also sparingly ; and he which soweth bountifully 
shall reap also bountifully." Seed and harvest stand 
in the relation to each other as cause and consequence. 
Be niggardly in the use of grain and your shocks 
will be wide apart. Some sow so sparingly that the 
grain does not stand thick enough to reap. " Freely 
ye have received, freely give." 

Look to the motive. The quality of an action 
resides in the intention. "As a man thinketh in his 
heart, so is he." "Every man according as he 
purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudg- 
ingly or of necessity; for God loveth a cheerful 
giver;" and a cheerful giver loves God. The points 
are: (i.) All must give. (2.) All must give period- 



SYSTEMATIC BENEVOLENCE. 171 

ically. (3.) All must give according to ability. 
(4.) All must give cheerfully. 

God's will is that you should give,' and that you 
should do it as his will is done in heaven. ' ' Thy 
will be done on earth, as it is in heaven." "I delight 
to do Thy will, O, my God; yea, thy law is within 
my heart." 

The Reward. — (1.) It is temporal. If you give 
honestly God will so prosper you as to increase your 
ability to do more. " For he that hath, to him shall 
be given." God's measure is to you as your measure 
is to others. 

Homeless Jacob, thrust out of his father's house, 
after his Bethel vision, vowed to give to God one- 
tenth. His subsequent prosperity need not be 
recited. The very habit of looking weekly into one's 
affairs, with a view of ascertaining the amount duty 
requires should be given, tends to the formation of 
business habits that carry with them thrift. ' ' Short 
settlements make long friends." Not to frequently 
look into one's business is to be like the silly ostrich 
— sticking its head in the sand and fancying itself 
hidden and secure. Make up your log often if you 
would know how fast you are sailing. ''He that 
watereth shall be watered also himself." The sea 
cannot dry up as long as the clouds return what it gives. 

(2.) It has already been shown that giving is a 
means of grace. Short rations make limp bodies. 
Withholding from God makes souls shrink. Giving is 
to the heart what yeast is to the bread. If you 
want to " make a raise," leaven your life with liber- 



172 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

ality. " Therefore, as ye abound in everything, in 
faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all 
diligence, and in your love to us, see that ye abound 
in this grace (of giving) also." 

(3.) It carries with it an eternal compensation. 
" Charge them that are rich in this world, that they 
be not high minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, 
but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things 
to enjoy; that they do good, that they be rich in good 
works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate; 
laying up in store for themselves a good foundation 
against the time to come, that they may lay hold on 
eternal life." Money laid up in heaven is in a 
security bank, one that will pay you dividends after 
death. Lay up treasure in it, and you need not fear 
that the cashier will run away with the money, nor 
burglars rifle the vault. "It is not what one leaves 
behind that makes him rich, but what he sends 
before." 

The End. — "That there be no gatherings when 
I come." You will not have to send for the elder 
or secretary of one of the boards to "lift." your 
collections with an oratorical derrick. Beneficence 
will flow in a steady stream, or descend in silent dews. 
There are some countries in which it never rains, but 
the nightly dews are so refreshing that nature 
responds with generous harvests. Where the dew 
descends like that on Hermon, God commands his 
blessing. Geysers come from central fires, and turn 
surface ice into limpid and life-making streams. 



SYSTEMATIC BENEVOLENCE. 173 

Such a plan will render impossible some niggardly 
braggart proposing to be one of the twenty to give 
twenty-five dollars when he knows that only five can 
respond to that proposition. ' ' Every tub will stand 
upon its own bottom." "If thou be wise, thou 
shalt be wise for thyself." Marching through 
Immanuel's land is by Indian file. No man's duty is 
made dependent on what another will do. The 
narrow road must be traveled singly. But one camel 
can go through the eye of a needle at the same time. 
Then he must be stripped of his pack and squeeze 
through on his knees. Traveling on the knees is 
not pleasant, but it is the way to get in. 

The Result. — The mites will be gathered. ' ■ Many 
mickles make a muckle. " So, many nickels make 
much. The poor widow casting all her living into 
the treasury, will get Christ's approval, and the rich 
Pharisee will be rebuked for the fewness of his 
shekels. The power of pennies will be manifest. 
The poor can put in their dimes and take away 
God's blessing by eagles. All can have stock in the 
church. The aggregate will show the might of 
mites as well as the shirk of shekels. The ocean is 
but the result of many confluent rivulets. The 
mountains are built of "little grains of sand." The 
fruitful isles of the Pacific are reared with the shells 
of tiny coral insects. The finest marbles are but 
. mausoleums of infinitesimal Crustacea. Many thous- 
ands of type clicked into columns are embodying 
these ideas into print. Line upon line and precept 
upon precept make up the learning of the sage. 



174 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

Small duties done, if the measure of ability, bring 
the largest blessing God can give. A mite, when it 
is the gauge of capacity, leads a million, when a 
million falls short of expressing the ability of the 
donor. When one does all he can for Jesus, He 
will do all He can for him. A farthing may look 
very lonely in God's money-box, but a running-over 
blessing in the heart causes it to cry for a larger 
treasury of grace. The little cake of the impover- 
ished widow of Zarephath gave her an ever-replen- 
ishing meal-barrel. Would that men might know on 
"which side their bread is buttered!" Many are 
living on crusts who might be feasting on plenty, 
because they have withheld the prophet's cake. 
"He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse 
him. " ' 'Where no vapors ascend no dew descends. " 
"He that watereth shall be watered. " It is not mites 
or millions that pass current in the kingdom of 
heaven. It is means and motives. "For if there 
be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to 
that a man hath, and not according to that he hath 
not." A wish and will, with nothing to give, go 
for more with God than much given "grudgingly 
and of necessity," — and short of ability. You are 
not to give to help God, but to help yourself. 
Because you cannot pray a great prayer will you 
refuse to offer a little one? The God-man that made 
five loaves feed as many thousands can make your 
stuttered prayer shake the throne of Omnipotence. 
As the Jordan runs through the lake of Galilee, and 
the Gulf Stream is, a river in the ocean, so are rills 



SYSTEMATIC BENEVOLENCE. 175 

of charity in the sea of benevolence. "Every 
little helps." 

There are no "deadheads" on the highway of 
salvation. Pay as you go, and go as you pay. 
Jesus is not begging your patronage. Salvation is 
free. You can get it without money or price, but 
you cannot keep it without helping the needy. ' 'Whoso 
hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have 
need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from 
him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?" (I John 
iii: 17.) That's a poser. Give it up. And without 
the love of God how can you be holy and happy? 
It cost nothing to be born, but it costs something to 
keep alive. Christ only asks for hearts, but Christly 
hearts ask, "Lord, what wilt thou have, me to do?" 
— and make obedience the proof of love. 

If you are "nothing but leaves," the Holy Spirit 
will leave you. But if the boughs of your being 
bend with fruit, angel harvesters will be busy bearing 
the golden apples to the heavenly bin. "Herein is 
my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit." "By 
their fruits ye shall know them." Siberian crabs 
will do for trees rooted in ice, but palms must bear 
bread because anchored in a fertile soil, and their 
broad leaves beg and get much of the sun's liquid 
gold. Hold all thou hast for Christ and he will give 
you more to hold. A clenched hand catches no 
blessing. 

I beg you not to "rob God." He is an infallible 
detective, a discerner of the intents and purposes of 
the heart. Jesus pardoned a dying thief, do not 



176 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

presume he will pardon a living one. "For I, the 
Lord, love judgment. I hate robbery for burnt 
offerings." Ask thyself "how much owest thou 
unto thy Lord?" If you pay less than you owe 
you are dishonest. "The debt of love" is a big 
one. One look at the cross will dispose you to 
make an assignment for the benefit of your creditor. 
"A pardoned penitent cannot stop to calculate the 
value of his alabaster box of precious ointment — that 
is an act to which only a Judas can stoop — its chief 
and sole regret is that the unction was not a richer 
perfume and a higher value." (Dr. John Harris.) 
"What shall I render unto the Lord for all his 
benefits?" 

General Remarks. — "The impulsive method 
compares with the systematic precisely as the stage- 
coach era of locomotion compares with that of steam. 
In the former the gain comes by superceding the 
intervention of vegetable and animal chemistry in 
liberating latent forces, and in the latter by dispens- 
ing more or less with the mediation of human sympa- 
thies. As in the former case the force comes more 
immediately from nature's great reservoir, so in the 
latter the spiritual comes more directly from the one 
infinite and only source, the Lord Jesus Christ. As 
a method of liberating and applying spiritual force 
the deliberative system has fuller efficiency." (Alfred 
Yeomans, D. D., in the Presbyterian Review.) 

Systematic storing and stated giving keep this 
feature of religion steadily before the mind; and as 
regular seasons for prayer contribute to the spirit- 



SYSTEMATIC BENEVOLENCE. 177 

life and growth of the believer, so will the recurring, 
periodical times for estimating ability and discharging 
a covenanted debt, minister to his growth in benefi- 
cence, and hence in grace. When christians thus 
give, the cultivation of the spirit of benevolence is 
not left to great occasions and "moving appeals," to 
the sight of human w r ant exciting a spasmodic 
sympathy; but is based on the principle and works 
steadily. A habit of giving, like a habit of prayer, 
will make it easy. Systematic giving is an habitual 
discharge of current obligations in return for benefits 
received. "The Lord is their creditor. He makes 
the appeal, supplies the motive, bestows the ability, 
keeps the account and holds out his hand for the 
tribute. Stopping the thoughts upon anything 
intermediate is welcoming a dear friend with a 
gloved hand." 

"Giving on 'the first day of the week,' monu- 
mental of the resurrection of our Lord, we will 
connect with our gifts a recollection of the great love 
and cost by which we have been redeemed. It will 
promote attendance upon the Sabbath worship. 
People will go up to the house of our Lord to 
deliver their offerings. Where the envelope system 
has been tried a marked increase in the size of the 
congregation has been observed. It gives a definite 
amount for payment of expenses. The church is 
too often a dilatory debtor. She should be an 
example of punctuality in this respect as in all other 
christian graces. But when bills are left over to be 
paid at some favorable time for ' coming before the 



178 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

people ' to whip up a languid generosity and an 
unsteady interest, those to whom they are due be- 
come impatient, and sometimes impeach the honor 
of the Church, while those so importunely and 
oftentimes indiscreetly appealed to become petulant, 
and though the money, by dint of dunning, is raised, 
a general feeling of malaise pervades the minds of the 
people. Except in the case of a few phenomenally 
wealthy churches the custom of weekly contribution 
has proved most effective. It will be found that the 
scriptural method rests upon a business basis, and 
that all efforts to substitute it entail embarrassments 
and oftentimes are futile. When this weekly storage 
principle is attended to, christians are always ' ready 
to distribute ' — the money is on hand. They do it 
ungrudgingly, because they have laid up a sum for 
the Lord. They do it conscientiously, because it is 
according to the prosperity with which God has 
immediately blessed them. 

' ' If there be specific times set for the collection 
for General Church Charities, for Missions, the Bible, 
etc. , then let a proportion be stored to meet these 
occasions. There will then be no need to send off 
for some famous ' beggar, ' some orator for an 
occasion, some Board Secretary, in order to meet 
the demands. The people will be found 'willing to 
communicate;' and with their cheerful gifts in 
hand, and with good will to all men, they will bring 
their prepared offerings to the altar. The Corinthian 
Church was not to wait until the Apostle came to 
them to stir their languid hearts and laggard zeal with 



SYSTEMATIC BENEVOLENCE. 179 

his eloquence, and excite all their pity by a vivid 
picture of Macedonian miseries, but his directions were 
that they should weekly attend to this • that there 
be no gatheringswhen I come. ' " 

The poor are often deterred from giving on great 
occasions where the collection is started by "who 
will be one of five to give one hundred dollars each?" 
When this is filled, then who will be one of ten to 
give fifty dollars each, and so on, running down to 
five dollars. And then, when everybody's patience 
is exhausted, those of small means are called upon, 
and but little time is spent in "gathering up the 
•fragments, that nothing be lost." Those of small 
ability to give are mortified, and often think that what 
they can contribute is so small an amount that it 
were more creditable not to give at all. 

By all means let the system of church finance 
provide for all members joining in the payment of 
the pastor's salary, and the various church benevo- 
lences. People who only give to "the penny 
collection " get to feel as though they were only 
helping to pay the sexton, or for fuel and lights, and 
do not feel that they are full partners with others in 
the minister and the enterprises of the church. 

Examples. — A gentleman in Dublin informed 
the Rev. Wm. Arthur, D. D., as follows: "By 
years of experience I know, after making allowance 
for bad debts, and so on, what percentage of my gross 
returns come to me, on the average, as cleat profit. 
Every week I know what my sales have been. If, 
therefore, I take that percentage on the week's sales, 



180 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

it represents my increase for the week, and hereafter 
I will draw a tenth of that weekly and put it to a 
benevolent fund." 

A gentleman writes to his minister: "After 
prayerfully committing my plans to the Lord, and 
imploring his blessing upon them, I changed my 
position from that of an employe to an employer. 
In doing so I had in view, among other objects, to 
be able more largely to contribute to the funds. The 
Lord greatly blessed my endeavors. I now give 
nine times what I gave a few years ago. In this our 
gracious Lord has been teaching me that the more 
one gives the more one gets to give." 

An Assurance. — "For this thing the Lord thy 
God shall bless thee in all thy works, and in all thou 
puttest thy hand unto." "The administration of 
this service not only supplieth the want of the 
saints, but is abundant also by many thanks- 
givings unto God ; while by the experiment of this 
ministration they glorify God for your professed 
subjection unto the Gospel of Christ, and for your 
liberal distribution unto them and to all men." 

Giving grace is growing grace. "Loved, and loving, 
be liberal and you will be changed into the image of 
Christ a~>d abound in all the fruits of the spirit ; and 
all that you cast into the treasury shall certainly 
precede your arrival in heaven, and there be con- 
verted for you into incorruptible treasures ' ' to the 
praise of the glory of his grace." (Dr. John Harris.) 

Particular Principles. — Every christian benefi- 
cence ^ould be proportionate: 



SYSTEMATIC BENEVOLENCE. 181 

1. To the totality of his means; 

2. To his prosperity — weekly; 

3. To the wages of his diligence and skill in business ; 

4. To what he can economize and spare by judi- 
cious self-denial ; 

5. To the grace and glory promised cheerful 
liberality. 



182 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

CHAPTER X. 
WRONG METHODS OF MONEY RAISING. 

Objection is not altogether made against church 
entertainments, as such, but against them as a means 
of raising money to pay the legitimate expenses of 
the kingdom of Christ. All the money that can be 
had can be obtained without resorting to such expe- 
dients. The awakened and quick consciences of men 
are the best tax-payers in the kingdom of God. 
Making a place of merchandise of the church is to 
desecrate it. It reduces it from the high plane of a 
"house of prayer" to the low level of "a den of 
thieves." The righteous indignation that seized Christ 
when he saw the temple perverted to the gains of 
traders and brokers, should possess every godly soul 
when the church is turned into a scene of speculation 
and extortion. Business men have a right to com- 
plain when the church undertakes to compete with 
them in trade. We have known poor people who 
have laid in a stock of Christmas goods to be entirely 
"swamped" — bankrupted — by the opening of a 
church fair. Going about soliciting goods as pres- 
ents, or at rates that justify under-selling, is a species 
of black-mailing. It means give or sell to us at 
reduced rates, or our church will "boycott" your 
business. Such entreaties from soliciting — ' ' begging' ' 
— committees lower the respect of business men for 
the church. 



WRONG METHODS OF MONEY RAISING. 183 

Besides, as a rule, those who buy contribute the 
goods, hence, give twice. The cost falls mostly on 
the men and women who pay the ordinary expenses 
of the church. The giving wears a commercial 
aspect when it should wear a religious one. The 
process by which a church fair pays church debts 
has been thus described: "Now, brethren, let us 
get up a supper and eat ourselves rich. Buy your 
food, then a-ive it to the church ; then go and buv it 
back again. Then eat it up, and then — your church 
debt is paid." 

The most destructive jealousies, too, originate in 
these entertainments. The friends of rival singers 
try to crown their favorite with flowers and applause 
and the grossest jealousies and hottest heart-burnings 
ensue. Feuds and factions find the competition of 
fairs in voting for articles to be presented to the 
winning competitor, the very agency for the venting 
of their spleen or the showing of their preferences. 
The "race" involves the very worst features of a 
political campaign and many of the most objection- 
able features of turf competition. Who, that has 
not known a church disturbed, or divided by such 
contests to so great an extent that no amount of 
money made thereby is a compensation for the dam- 
age done? In the long run such schemes do not pay 
financially. They create a sudden swell of the 
treasury, but forestall future finance in every legiti- 
mate direction of church revenue. The "grab-bag," 
the ' ' cake-cutting, " the ' ' raffle, " all involve the same 
principle condemned in a lottery. The post-office is 



184 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

a means for encouraging silly flirtations. The vari- 
ous "sells" would cashier the proprietor of a dime 
museum. No oyster-stand could stand a week which 
served its customers with such a sea of thin soup 
floating one poor little drowned oyster. "Pound 
parties, " as usually conducted, would shame a Bowery 
Peter Funk auctioneer. Such things are lowering to 
the tone of all pure morals, not to say of religious 
sensibility and sentiment! A humorist describes a 
church festival for raising money as an operation 
wherein one-half the church buys berries at fifteen 
cents a quart and sells them to the other half for a 
dollar. In vain will the church protest against 
theaters while it sets up a rival stage in the name of 
religion and produces a drama under the specious and 
beguiling names of "Dialogues," "Charades," 
"Cantatas, " "Tableaux Vivantes /'etc. , that for their sheer 
stupidity and dismal acting would be hissed from the 
boards of a Vaudeville show. The minstrel show is 
respectable compared with the majority of concerts 
given under the sanction and management of 
churches. Elocutionary readings and recitations, 
for the most part, are but a shallow and sham trans- 
portation of the low comedy of "After- pieces " to 
the church stage. Pulpits are used to advertise 
these frauds. Religious services are frequently post- 
poned or abandoned to give them right of way. 
The whole working force of the church is employed 
to sell tickets; and energies are expended, which, if 
turned in the right channels, would wheel forward 
the chariot of the gospel, and throw gold from 



WRONG METHODS OF MONEY RAISING. 185 

the revolving strakes along the whole pathway of 
church progress. 

Children are employed to collect money for mis- 
sionary and other causes with the promise of a 
premium to the largest collection returned. Several 
hundred Sunday-school pupils are turned loose on 
the community, and an indiscriminate and oft- 
repeated solicitation ensues, that degenerates into a 
chronic bore. The regular missionary collection 
suffers to an unknown degree. The cause of Christ 
is made a street beggar more importunate than the 
entreaty of the blind, and palsied and professional 
mendicant. The children are demoralized. Rivalry 
engenders a hurtful ambition and jealousy. Christ's 
work is done for reward, or honor. If it goes on as 
it now promises, the church will soon be offering 
chromos as a premium for attendance upon her ser- 
vice, as, in fact, she is now doing in her Sunday 
schools. A teacher gave her pupils a cent for each 
attendance. One Sunday they were all absent. 
She hunted them up and inquired the reason. She 
found them on a strike, demanding two cents. 

That all these things are wrong is apparent when 
stated. Every candid person inside and outside the 
church admits it. Baptizing a hog does not make it 
a sheep. Putting a halter on an ox does not make 
it a horse. Things evil in themselves, are not sanc- 
tified because the church does them. Then, down 
with the iniquity ! Let the church get right, and 
stay right, and the prosperity that always waits on 
well-doing will not fail to attend her. 



186 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

At least, let "the Mammon of Unrighteousness" 
go to the trustees — the secular board — and not to 
support of the ministry, or the benevolences. Do 
not grind gospel grist "with the Devil's water." 
Let money made by fairs and entertainments go to 
current expenses. Free gifts alone belong in God's 
treasury. Let all patch-work go to pay for repairs. 
Crazy quilts are poor missionary maps. "Thou 
shalt not bring the price of a dog into the house of 
the Lord thy God." 

Recognize "Aid Societies" as outside the church- 
pale. The church cannot afford to be responsible for 
competition at the polls, the chances of grab-bags, 
and the cheats of pound parties and Peter Funk auc- 
tions. The gospel knows but two methods of 
raising money, — i. Pay! "The laborer is worthy 
of his hire." 2. Giving! " Freely ye have received ; 
freely give. " 

By every consideration of sacredness and dignity 
the minister should refuse to be a showman. 

Alas, many churches are now looking for success- 
ful nurses, supple flatterers, scented courtiers, clerical 
dudes, skillful stage-managers — adepts in the use of 
magic lanterns and marionettes, rather than preach- 
ers and pastors. 

The conscience of the world can never be brought 
up to the gospel standard to meet the necessities of 
evang-elization at home, and missions abroad, by any 
such debilitating expedients. Christ has put the 
work upon us because his purpose is that through its 
right performance we may be disciplined. If we 



WRONG METHODS OF MONEY RAISING. 187 

mingle mere pleasure-seeking with that of duty-doing, 
we can never fairly discriminate whether we spend 
our money for our own delight, or to promote the 
cause of religion. 

Money raised by wrong means may promote the 
cause among others, but it will demote it among 
those who resort to such expedients. 

It is not suggested that entertainments given for 
the cultivation of social relations and acquaintance- 
ship, nor innocent amusements for the young, provid- 
ed by societies connected with the church, are wrong. 
On the other hand, wisely planned and controlled, 
they may be made efficient auxiliaries for the promo- 
tion of church growth. It is the undertaking of 
such things, as have been reprobated in this chapter 
for the purpose of raising money with which to sup- 
port the cause of Christ, that is wrong. 

Gospel support should rest upon the one principle 
of duty inspired by love for God and the good. 



188 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 



CHAPTER XL 

MISSIONS PAY. 

The meek inherit the earth. God has been 
giving the most fertile soil, the best climates, the 
richest mines, to christian nations. As soon as the 
church got fairly to work it began to possess. The 
heathen have been given "for an inheritance, and the 
uttermost parts of the earth for a possession. " As 
Christianity advanced, the eagle standard was sup- 
planted by the banner of the cross, and around it 
civilization has rallied its forces. It stands for "an 
ensign of the people." To it is, and shall be, the 
■ ' gathering of the nations. " The church, revived and 
harnessed for missionary enterprise, the long withheld 
gold of Australia and California enriched her coffers. 
The gospel plow cuts a deep furrow. Driven through 
Asia and Africa, "the solitary places "are being 
"made glad." The husbandry of Christianity trans- 
forms the wilderness into a garden and the desert is 
made to "blossom as the rose." Paradise is to be 
regained and restored by christian civilization. The 
missionary enterprise has already surprised mankind 
by developing correlate interests and resources. Its 
future explorations will transcend the highest expect- 
ations of the optimist, as the youthful efforts of 
Apollo were overshadowed by the god-like achieve- 
ments of his maturity. Golden flowers rose from 



mission's pay. 189 

the earth to brooch the breast of Delos; and the 
stones in the quarry, enchanted by the music of his 
Mercury-strung and goddess-given lyre, took comely 
shape and waltzed to their places in the walls of 
Crissa, while his well-aimed arrow laid low in death 
the devouring dragon. But the fabled flowers were 
not so sweet as the wilderness of blossoms that blow, 
in waste places, beneath the evoking touch of mis- 
sionary endeavor. Nor have the arrows shot from 
the gospel bow merely pierced a single monster, but 
whole broods of hissing, slimy Pythons have fallen 
beneath its shafts. Not the walls of one fane merely 
have celestial chords upreared ; but the harp of Zion 
trembling to the notes of love, have built of. hearts — 
"living stones" — crimson-veined marble — temples 
for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, asylums for 
suffering humanity, and majestic minsters vocal with 
the strains cf thanksgiving, and ringing with the 
sweet minstrelsy of praise. And the transfiguration, 
prototypical of " the bridal of the earth and sky," is 
but the fulfilling of the era of predicting song: "My 
word that goeth forth out of my mouth shall not 
return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that 
which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing 
whereto I sent it. Instead of the thorn shall come 
up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come 
up the myrtle tree : and it shall be to the Lord for a 
name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off." 

" They who have strewn the violets reap the corn, 

And having reaped and garnered bring the plough, 
And draw fresh furrows 'neath the healthy morn,. 
And plant the great hereafter in the now." 



190 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

Missions pay. Not only in souls, but in earthly 
riches. Wherever Christianity finds lodgment, a new 
market is opened for the products of God's faithful 
stewards. A few regiments of British soldiers sub- 
jugated the supine millions of India, and "the land 
of the Vedas" has enriched the failing exchequer of 
Great Britain and promoted a Queen to an Empress. 

A flock of birds flying to the Southward turned 
the caravels of Columbus; and this simple, providen- 
tial incident threw North America into the hands of 
a protestant power. 

Liberty travels in the track of the gospel, and 
commerce gathers gold as it follows in the wake of 
the old ship Zion. 

(God is gathering the wealth of the world into the 
hands of christian nations. A recent publication 
gives the following as a part of the vast resources of 
the United States: Aggregate deposits in banks, 
$3,000,000,000; annual agricultural products, 
$2,000,000,000 ; annual profit in coal, iron and man- 
ufactures, $500,000,000; annual products of gold 
and silver mines, $400,000,000; railroad earnings, 
$250,000,000; making an aggregate of $6, 100,000,000, 
for these great leading industries of the nation. Were 
all the other industries of the nation added, it would 
vastly swell this amount. Dr. Dorchester, who is 
recognized as an authority in religious statistics, 
estimates that the evangelical population of the 
United States embraces one-fifth of the entire popu- 
lation. If so, one-fifth of this vast income, or 
$ 1, 220,000,000 is within the control of the evangel- 



mission's pay. 191 

ical population. Yet the aggregate gifts of all the 
Protestant churches for home and foreign missions 
is only $5,500,000. Scribners Statistical Atlas for 
1880 says the wealth of the United States is 
increasing at the rate of $6,800,000 daily. This is 
$2,482,000,000 every year. One-fifth of this gives 
to the christian population an annual increase in 
wealth, $496,400,000; yet, out of this enormous 
increase of wealth, it only consecrates $5,500,000 to 
the work to which Christ gave his life. Our expend- 
itures keep pace with the increase of our wealth. 
From the census of 1880 and other sources, the 
following figures have been gathered : We expend 
as a people every year for kid gloves, $25,000,000; 
for public education, $85,000,000; for dress goods, 
$125,000,000; boots and shoes, $196,000,000; cotton 
goods, $210,000,000; woolen goods, $237,000,000; 
meat, $303,000,000; bread, $505,000,000; tobacco, 
$600,000,000; liquor, $900,000,000, making an ag- 
gregate of $3, 186,000,000; and yet this great nation 
which expends each year $900,000,000 for liquor, 
has only $5,500,000 to give to Christ for the spread 
of the gospel among the nations.) Are we not 
exposing ourselves to the terrible arraignment Mal- 
achi brought against Israel: ''Will a man rob God?" 
How stand the christians with one-fifth of the wealth 
of the nation at their command? May not our 
Master say : 

" I gave ray life for thee, 
What hast thou given for me ? " 

The Sandwich Islands, converted at the cost of a 
two-hundredth part of a single rich American's 



192 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

fortune, have poured their wealth into the lap of the 
nation that bore to them the gospel. Missionary 
engineering has disclosed the long hidden sources of 
the Nile and Niger, and laid open to exploration and 
colonization the rich delta of the Congo. The 
brakes of the "dark continent," hitherto regarded as 
the jungle of wild beasts, are now known to be 
crowded with a vast population of human beings. 
Ethiopia stretches forth her hands and the gospel is 
filling them with blessings. Africa has received 
notice to surrender, and William Taylor is there to 
receive her sword. 

World-wide sowing is inviting christian sickles to 
reap the rich harvests that are springing up beside 
all waters. 

The late Earl Cairns, stated in a recent address in 
London, that of the 37,000 native population of 
Sierra Leone, 32,000 were professing christians; and 
of the 44,000 Maoris in New Zealand, 25,000 were 
professing christians. 

The first Malagassy who ever learned the alphabet 
died January 1883, at the age of 72. He had lived 
to see 50,000 of his countrymen taught to read, and 
over 70,000 profess their faith in Christ. 

"Fifty years ago," said Earl Cairns at a meeting 
of the Church Missionary Society, " if a man had 
been shipwrecked on some of the islands of the 
Pacific, he would have been killed, , cooked •• and 
eaten ; whereas, if a man were shipwrecked there 
now, he would receive christian hospitality." Miss 
Gordon Cumming, who is not a missionary, and who 



MISS-IONS PAY. 193 

did not write for the purpose of crying up missions, 
declared that, while in 1835 the people of Feejee were 
cannibals, there are now 400 churches and 1,400 
schools there. Lady Brassey writes that any body 
who wants to see the last traces of heathenism in 
Japan had better go soon, as they are rapidly giving 
place to Christianity. 

The isles of the sea are no longer waiting for the 
gospel, but rejoicing in its light and liberty, and send- 
ing the glad tidings to "the regions beyond." 

(One of the mo:t noticeable things about the 
churches in missionary lands is their liberality. From 
Southern India Mr. Randall reports to the Mission- 
ary Herald, that most of the 2,501 church members 
connected with the Madura Mission ' ' are from the 
lowest castes, and are day laborers, earning not more 
than ten cents a day. Yet most of them give some- 
thing, and they are giving more and more liberally 
each year."' Mr. Howland speaks of certain chris- 
tians in this region who live on six dollars a year, 
who yet contribute of what they have — possibly at 
times only a handful of rice from their scanty store. 

The Fiji islands are about 225 in number. Great 
Fiji is 90 miles by 50; population 50,000. When 
first found by missionaries the Fijians were the most 
savage, cruel and dangerous beings known. Their 
cannibalism, human sacrifices, infanticide and bury- 
ing alive, were the most horrible in manner and 
amount of which heathenism furnishes any record. 
Humanity had sunk to it's lowest depths. Now, Sir 
Arthur Gordon, governor of the British Colony cf 



194 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

Fiji, can say, " It is impossible to speak in too strong 
terms of the wonderful results, both religious and 
social, which have attended the Wesleyan Mission in 
Fiji." They are now a christian people; their 
churches number 900; church-members, 23,000; 
Sabbath sacredly observed; 42,000 children in the 
1,500 schools; family worship almost universal. And 
it is an interesting fact that the first mission-work in 
Fiji was by converts from the native missionary 
society of the Friendly Islands.) 

Christianity, like a shaft of light, lies athwart 
4 ' the dark places of the earth full of the habitations 
of cruelty." It has warmed with maternal love the 
breast of the Hindoo mother, and the crocodiles, 
hungry for infant flesh, go unfed. As the mother of 
Coriolanus, prostrate before the wheels of his chariot, 
delivered Rome from the vengeance of the Volsci, 
so the body of Christ, thrown a-front the car of 
Juggernaut, made the wheels of the ponderous idol 
rest and rust on their bloody axles. Men, who have 
fed on human flesh, are pleading, ft I beseech you, 
brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present 
your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto 
God." The bread of life is the antidote of cannibal 
hunger. Godliness carries with it cleanliness. The 
antiseptic power of Christianity is disinfecting the 
plague-loaded air of the East, and thus lifting the 
quarantine against pestilence in the West. A pure 
heart creates a demand for clean linen. We are 
saving the Occident from pestilential contagion, by 
saving the Orient from physical filth and moral corrup- 



MISSIONS PAY. 195 

tion. Science, by securing larger generalizations, is 
turning the bolts of many of the combination locks of 
nature. Concealed mysteries are being brought from 
nature's arcana, as offerings upon the altar of human 
intelligence. 

"There is no literature fuller and richer than the 
missionary literature of our age. Nor is it a heavy 
mass of unattractive dates and statistics. It is leav- 
ened all through with the most thrilling and instruc- 
tive incidents of human life. It is full of history, 
geography, philosophy, ethnology, zoology, botany, 
mineralogy, painting and sculpture, architecture and 
civil engineering, music and fashion, political econ- 
omy and international law. A large portion of the 
missionary literature of the church is stranger than 
romance ; it is divine poetry, equaled only by that 
within the sacred volume: nay, it is supreme reality, 
lifting the reader above the low levels of secular affairs, 
where things are so often not what they seem, into 
the clear light of perfect observation. 

"Missionary literature is commanding to-day the 
services of many of the most accomplished authors, 
the most successful editors, the most skilled artists, 
and the most enterprising publishers. The most 
attractive geographical work we have ever seen is 
that new and sixth edition of the Atlas, published 
by the English Church Missionary Society. The 
fourteenth edition of the Jubilee Year Report of the 
Free Church of Scotland upon its fifty years of 
foreign missions, the American Presbyterian and 
Baptist magazines, the Easter cards of the Episcopal 



196 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

church, the last annual report of the American 
Board, the volume of papers presented at the Mild- 
may Conference, The Religious Outlook in Mexico, 
by a late Methodist Bishop, and many other contri- 
butions to our missionary literature we might 
mention, all the way from leaflets to volumes, show- 
ing that in this department the church is employing 
many minds of the highest talent and culture, taste, 
and adaptability." (Dr. William F. Brainbridge's 
"Around-the- World Tour of Christian Missions.") 

Missionaries are the most competent reporters of 
scientific facts. Karl Ritter said that he could not 
have written his works on geography without the 
knowledge contributed by missionaries. Mr. Cotton, 
the cartographer, makes a similar acknowledgment. 
The Ethnological society rarely meets without 
a paper from a missionary. The best paper written 
on Africa was written by a missionary. Agassiz 
said: "Few of us are aware how much we owe to 
the missionaries. We must look to them for aid 
in all our efforts to advance science." 

4 'There are many who attack even more acrimo- 
niously than Kotzebue both the missionaries, their 
system, and the effects produced by it. Such 
reasoners never compare the present state with that 
of the island only twenty years ago, nor even that 
of Europe at the present day ; but they compare it 
with the high standard of gospel perfection. They 
expect the missionaries to effect that which the 
apostles themselves failed to do. Inasmuch as the 
condition of the people falls short of this high stand- 



MISSIONS PAY. 197 

ard, blame is attached to the missionaries instead of 
credit for that which he has effected. They forget, 
or will not remember, that human sacrifices and the 
power of an idolatrous priesthood ; a system of 
profligacy unparalleled in any other part of the 
world; infanticide, a consequence of that system; 
bloody wars where the conquerors spared neither 
women nor children — that all these have been abol- 
ished, and that dishonesty, intemperance and licenti- 
ousness have been greatly reduced by the introduction 
of Christianity. For a voyager to forget these things 
is base ingratitude ; for should he chance to be at 
the point of shipwreck on some unknown coast, he 
will most devoutly pray that the lesson of the 
missionary may have extended thus far. . . . But 
it is useless to argue against such reasoners. I 
believe that, disappointed in not finding the field of 
licentiousness quite so open as formerly, they will 
not give credit to a morality which they do not wish 
to practice, or to a religion which they undervalue, 
if not despise."— (Voyage of a Naturalist Around the 
World, by Charles Darwin.) 

Heretofore naturalists have been reading through 
shattered prisms. Soon missionary explorations will 
furnish them the pure white light of Universal Truth. 
The Evangel runs — and, as the fair Atalanta, throws 
down golden apples on the path, and civilization and 
science follow, picking up the precious fruit. " Many 
shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increas- 
ed." The steam whistle is already sounding on the 
rivers of Africa: and ere lone the iron horse will 



198 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

shame Mazeppa and his steed, as it plunges through 
the tangled thickets. The great dragon, with heart 
of fire and breath of steam, will hang out the warn- 
ing placard: " Look out for the locomotive when the 
bell rings!" Over the chequered highways will be 
strung the great electric harp of civilization, quiver- 
ing with the music of the mart, and Job's question 
put in the infancy cf the world will be answered, 
"Can'st thou send the lightnings that they may go 
and say unto thee, here we are?" 'The telegraphic 
cross follows the Cross of Calvary. 

Christian David went to Greenland, carrying the 
magic lamp of the gospel; and, now the ice-floes 
are sending us glossy seals to warm our shiver- 
ing bodies. Cary went to India, and lo! her 
coral strands load our argosies with untold wealth. 
Afric's sunny fountains will, ere long, be no rhythm 
of romance, no myth of the muse; but will send 
their golden streams and equatorial warmth trailing, 
like the enlivening Gulf stream, around insular 
shores, that otherwise would shiver with inhos- 
pitable chill. The wall is down in China and 
the gospel has leaped through the breach. The 
missionary prepares the way of the Lord and all 
"his paths drop fatness." 

(A missionary, laboring in Africa, reports that on 
going to the coast recently he was saluted by a trader 
with the remark: "There must have been a lot of 
heathen people joining your church lately. " "Yes, 
it is so," he was answered ; " but how did you come 
to know it?" " Oh, because there have been a lot 



MISSIONS PAY. 199 

of heathen people here buying dresses, shawls, etc." 
This is another illustration of the way in which the 
spread of Christianity promotes commerce.) 

Mission collections are exhibiting the spirit of self- 
sacrifice at home, and missionary laborers are exhib- 
iting a moral heroism in foreign fields. Faith is 
proving its power. No Cornelia or Volumnia ever 
showed a finer spirit than the mother of Lyman, 
who, when informed of his death at the hands of 
cannibals, and that his body had been devoured by 
his murderers, lifted her streaming eyes toward 
heaven, and amid intermingled sobs, said: " Praise 
the Lord that he ever gave me so good a son ! Had 
I another like him, I would send him to preach 
salvation to the savages that feasted on his flesh." It 
tias been said that ' ' graves are needed in the mission 
fields." They are billow r ed with them — " the green 
mountain tops of a far distant world." The rounded 
hillock over the pulseless breast of Bishop Wiley 
rises higher in the eye of faith than Himalayan 
peaks. " Let the dead missionaries hold the ground 
for us as silent sentinels until the living come." 
"Wiley is holding China, waiting and listening with 
upturned face for the coming of the legions of the 
Cross ; Melville B. Cox is holding Liberia, with his 
dead hand on her living heart; Kingsley is keeping 
guard for us on the sacred shores of the Mediter- 
ranean sea; Downey lies in India, waiting for the 
redemption of her millions ; William Taylor is strew- 
ing sacred dust in his triumphal march across the 
valleys of Africa." 



200 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

If we cannot build churches we can build tombs, 
and above the dust of the dead the living temples 
shall rise. Our God has built up his great universe 
on sacrifice. His mountains of everlasting glory rise 
up out of his valleys of death. He waters his gardens 
of spiritual beauty with the tears of souls. He 
enriches with heart-dust the desert places of the 
world until they blossom as the rose. He sprinkles 
every foundation stone of power with blood as he 
lays it in its place. His own great white throne of 
blinding glory is upheld by a rude cross of sacrifice ; 
and our God is a great God ; we must work on 
his lines. 

-In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea, 
With a glory in his bosom that transfigures you and me ; 
As he died to make men holy, let us die to make men free, 
While God is marching on." ' 

(Julia Ward Howe.) 

The courage of Gordon is eclipsed by the exploits 
of Livingstone ; and the march of William Taylor and 
his little band of missionaries into the heart of Africa, 
is the sublimest spectacle of modern times. Suppose 
they do fall. So fell the 300 at Thermopylae, but 
they survived in the freshened patriotism of ten 
thousand Greeks. The daring deeds of Achilles 
made the heroes of Marathon and Platea. Should 
Wm. Taylor and his company fall beneath savage 
arms or fatal fevers ere a single tribe of Ham is won 
to Christ, the church will chant in epic pentameters 
their vicarious heroism, and become instinct with the 
same noble revenge that filled the soul of Lyman's 



MISSIONS PAY. 201 

mother. Africa redeemed would avenge the church 
for her "noble army of martyrs." 

"They never fail who die 
In a good cause ; the block may soak their gore, 
Their heads may sodden in the sun, their limbs 
Be strung to city gates and castle walls ; 
But still their spirit walks abroad." 

Every missionary who has lost his life in Pagan 
lands has saved it. It can scarcely be said a man 
loses that he instantaneously finds. One moment a 
martyr in blood or flame — the next an immortal 
crying beneath the altar, "How long?" "The 
blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church." A 
tuning fork sings no song, but it gives the pitch that 
harmonizes a congregation of voices. A martyred 
missionary may voice no anthem of triumph, but 
the low sweet cadence of his expiring breath may be 
sweet as a cygnet's dying song, and give key to the 
march-music to which the church keeps step. 

Missions have given some of the grandest chap- 
ters of heroism to history. 

Think of the spirit that led missionaries to con- 
sent to reduce themselves from freemen to slavery, 
that working by slaves in the sugar-cane fields they 
might teach them the religion of Christ ! Think of 
that hero who became the Pastor* of a leprous 
colony in the Sandwich Islands, and finally died a 
martyr to the loathsome disease. Think of the gifted 
Hannington leaving the refinement of British life 
to preach the gospel to African savages who cruelly 
put him to death, and the score of heroic spirits that 

= : Da mien. 



202 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

rose up to avenge his death by preaching the gospel 
to the savages that drank his blood ! Think of the 
converts of this godly Bishop shouting hosannas in 
the midst of cruel tortures and refusing to purchase 
life at the cost of denouncing their christian faith! 

Behold Christian David and the Stach brothers 
embarking for inhospitable Greenland, without the 
backing of money, or the influence of a home 
church, and in total ignorance of the native language, 
and without an interpreter, or the slightest welcome ! 
Their sole means of support is a fishing yawl, and 
their subsistence sea-weeds and the blubber of seals. 
They are mocked in their devotions. Their songs 
and prayers are drowned with yells and drums. 
They are pelted with stones. Finally their fishing 
boat is turned adrift and they are menaced with 
starvation. What did they do ? They resolved to 
"endure as seeing Him who is invisible." 

" Fired with a peculiar zeal, they defy 
The rage and rigor of a Greenland sky, 
And plant successfully sweet Sharon's rose 
On icy fields, and 'mid eternal snows." 

Can the church contemplate such heroism and fail 
to requite it by all the support required for those 
who, counting not their own lives dear, advanced the 
outposts of Christianity, and gave notice, though 
dying, of the coming conquest of the cross? 

Such exhibitions of sacrificial devotion to the cause 
of Christ, are the vital exponents of the power of 
faith, and prove to a gainsaying world that martyr- 
stuff is yet the possession of the church. The biog- 



MISSIONS PAY. 20') 

raphies of missionaries read like the "Acts of the 
Apostles." Says Dr. Pierson : 

"All argument in favor of missions is needless to 
those who feel the force of the scripture appeal for 
world-wide evangelism. Our Lord's last words are 
the marching orders of the church, to be promptly 
and implicitly obeyed. But when the scriptural pre- 
cept is buttressed up by consideration of every sort, 
personal and social, temporal and spiritual; when 
the logic of events adds its unanswerable argument, 
the whole mind and heart of a true disciple feel the 
inspiration of conviction and enthusiasm in the work 
of witnessing to a lost world. Facts are the fingers 
of God. Knowledge does not always kindle zeal, 
but there will be little zeal without knowledge ; 
and so, if we would awaken a deep passion for the 
universal and immediate spread of gospel tidings, 
believers must be brought face to face with those 
startling facts which make the whole march of 
modern missions the marvel and miracle of these 
latter days." 

The epitaph inscribed on the tomb of ^Eschylus 
at Athens was, ' ' He was a soldier and fought on the 
field of Marathon." It was of his own dictation. 
No note is made of his fame as a poet, no reference 
to his marvellous tragedies. In that heroic age the 
greatest claim a man had to immortality was patriotic 
devotion proven by military daring. We live in an 
age of moral heroism, in which the epitaphs of our 
highest braves are written in much variant language 
from that of the tragic bard of Athens. The soldier 



204 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

of the cross, pushing the conquest of his standard 
in fields foreign to his faith, and falling without an 
epic, without a christian grave, is a hero for whom 
heaven brightens its crowns and greens its fadeless 
palms. As was said of a martyr missionary: "His 
name might not be written on the bead-roll of 
fame, but — 

• His album is the savage breast, 
Where darkness broods and demons rest, 

Without a ray of light ; 
To write the name of Jesus'there, 
And point to worlds both bright and fair, 

Is his supreme delight.'" 

Apostolic Christianity derives its force from the fer- 
tilizing blood of martyrs. John the Baptist, the 
gospel herald, was a martyr. All the apostles but 
John were martyrs. Fifty bishops of Rome in 
succession laid down their lives for the faith. There 
have, too, been, perhaps, more martyrdoms in the 
last century than in any equal period since the 
first persecution of christians. Sixteen thousand 
martyrs expired in nine months in 1861 — in the 
Empire of Anam alone. The history of heathen 
evangelization everywhere has been a martyrology. 
The vocation of the apostolate demands the highest 
moral courage known to men. As the missionary 
enters upon it he must exclaim, "Henceforth we 
know no man according to the flesh." After years 
of suffering, in prospect of the martyr's crown, it is 
his to say : " Let no man trouble me ; I bear in my 
body the marks of the Lord Jesus" The path of the 
true missionary, like that of the Master, is a track of 



MISSIONS PAY. 205 

blood, and if he would resemble the Crucified he 
must be clothed with "dyed garments" — raiment 
crimsoned, like the seamless robe of the Great 
Exemplar, with his own blood. 

' ' When the Batavia was crossing the Atlantic 
in a terrific storm, and there was sighted in the 
evening twilight a wreck, with several men clinging 
to the shrouds, when it was a question of life and 
death to man a boat and pull to the rescue, Capt. 
Mouland's call for volunteers was instantly responded 
to by twice the number needed for the service ; and 
out of this number he commissioned the picked 
men, who hastened to their critical trust, and in due 
time joyfully returned, bringing in nine rescued souls 
amid the hearty cheers of their comrades, who gen- 
erously envied them the honor of which they them- 
selves had been deprived. When shall the time 
come that twice the number of men needed shall be 
always volunteering for the most advanced and 
perilous posts of aggressive missionary service, and 
our only care shall be to select the strongest and the 
best? God speed the day!" — (Alden.) 

When it is remembered that Dr. Robert Morrison 
baptized his first Chinese convert in 1814, and we 
consider the vast change in China in the last twenty 
years, the opening of the Empire to christian civili- 
zation, the freedom enjoyed by missionaries and 
commerce, we cannot doubt the final evangelization 
of the Mongolian race. 

Japan bids fair to be a christian nation in the next 
quarter of a century, and, to-day, is more closely 



206 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

allied with America than with her Chinese neighbor. 
In fact, it looks as if the time were near at hand for the 
removal of every barrier to the propagation of the 
gospel. All the old and false systems of religion are 
giving way. There can be but one new candidate for 
the suffrage of mankind. With the fall of Paganism, 
Mohammedanism and Judaism, the alternative will 
be no religion or Christ's. The cross, finally, will 
challenge the credulity and acceptance of all men. 

The christian religion is now the only propaganda. 
The vast systems that dominate the Eastern mind 
have left no sufficient energy for propagation — while, 
"The world for Christ" is the rallying cry of His 
church, and to w T in the nations to the cross is the 
high ambition and aim of Christendom. Christian 
commerce, acting as a leavening influence, is making 
neighbors of nations heretofore distant and alien. 
The era is at hand when wars shall cease. The great 
costs of armies, the destruction wrought by them, 
will be saved. The money saved by peace and a 
tithe of the men employed in war will, if turned to 
the world's evangelization, bring its races and tribes 
into loyal and loving relations to Jesus in a half 
of a century. 

In the meanwhile the call on christian wealth and 
devotion for missionary means and men is great. 
The prayer for harvesters has been answered. A 
thousand young men now in American colleges have 
laid themselves upon the altar of consecration. 
Nothing is lacking but the money to send a thous- 
and bright and brave young men, annually, into the 



MISSIONS PAY. 207 

field. Women, too, are waiting by the hundreds to 
go. The wealth of christian men and women must 
be as free to send the young and vigorous recruits to 
the front and field as they are to go. Thousands of 
single churches are able to sustain a missionary, and 
many more thousands to support helpers. "A mil- 
lion for missions" making the air discordant with its 
cry, coming from a church with two millions of 
members, is grotesquely absurd. 

Fifty cents apiece only for christian people to send 
the gospel to those who have never heard of a Sav- 
ior's love ! It is enough to make a tombstone smile 
in derision. 

We are the product of missionary toil. The prim- 
itive church sent the gospel to our savage sires. Dr. 
Robert Young says: "Two foreign missionaries, 
responsive to the Macedonian cry for help — Paul and 
Silas — opened the baptismal registry of Europe with 
the names of a respectable shop-keeper and her fam- 
ily and a jailor and his household. Our ancestors 
were English — the best blood in the world. Was the 
gospel brought to England by foreign missionaries? 
How could it get there, or anywhere else, by other 
means? The history is substantially this: The 
Pope saw some fair and handsome people on the 
streets of Rome. ' Who are these? ' said his holiness. 
1 Angles from distant Angle-land, ' was the reply. ' I 
would fro God they were angels, ' said his holiness, 
and forthwith despatched Augustine and forty monks 
to introduce the work of Christianity among the 
English. This same Augustine became the first 



208 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

Archbishop of Canterbury, A. D. 597. The church 
has been gathering strength and glory in the famous 
island from that day to this. England has been a 
center whence have irradiated streams of gospel light 
for all lands. 

"America is a christian country. Who brought 
the gospel here? ' An heroic young missionary ' — 
the Rev. Robert Hunt, of the Established Church of, 
England. When the Jamestown colony landed, 
1607, they went on shore, and he administered the 
holy c6mmunion to the entire company. A church 
was the first house built, which they decorated with 
wild flowers of the country. The young Englishman 
was not allowed to marry the Indian princess — Poca- 
hontas — until she had been instructed and baptized. 
This was the beginning of Protestant missionary 
labor for the conversion of the 'infidel savages.' 
The good ship Mayflower brought over no minister, 
but when she landed at Plymouth Rock, 1620, there 
were already in Virginia eleven parishes and five 
hard-working clergymen." 

So the history of all the past testifies that the 
entrance of Christianity in all the continents and 
kingdoms has been made by the foreign missionary. 

Common gratitude requires that we who have 
been raised from brutal barbarism and horrid Pagan 
rites by "the light of the glorious gospel," should 
in turn use the wealth it has made for us in giving it 
to the benighted of earth. 



MISSIONS PAY. 209 

" Shall we, whose souls are lighted 

With wisdom from on high, 
Shall we to men benighted 

The lamp of life deny? 
Salvation, O Salvation ! 

The joyful sound proclaim, 
Till earth's remotest nation 

Has learned Messiah's name." 

Hark! prophetic poetry: "How beautiful upon 
the mountains are the feet of Him that bringeth 
good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth 
good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that 
saith unto Zion : Thy God reigneth ! Thy watch- 
men shall lift up the voice ; with the voice together 
shall they sing; for they shall see eye to eye, when 
the Lord shall bring again Zion. Break forth into 
joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem: 
for the Lord hath comforted his people, he hath 
redeemed Jerusalem. The Lord hath made bare his 
holy arm in the eyes of all the nations ; and all the 
ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our 
God." (Isa.) 

"The Prince of Salvation in triumph is riding, 
And glory attends Him along His bright way ; 
The news of His grace on the breezes is gliding, 
And the nations are owning His sway." 

When the charter of the American Board was 
pending in the Massachusetts legislature, it was 
facetiously suggested that, "we have no surplus 
religion to export." We have learned that the more 
we send abroad the more we have at home, and that 
the import of benefit far exceeds that which we send 
abroad. High tariff on religion would be no protec- 
tion to home manufacture. On this subject, at least, 



210 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

we require free trade. We are just beginning to reap 
the rich harvest of our seemingly costly seed-sowing. 

The greatest cost of missions, when compared 
with speedy returns, is necessarily at the start. All 
first things are expensive. A few ounces of a new 
seed will cost perhaps as many dimes as there are 
grains. Sow the product in a selected soil carefully 
prepared, and then you have seed-corn for broad- 
casting, and may hope for abundant harvests. ' 'There 
shall be a handful of corn in the earth upon the top 
of the mountains ; the fruit thereof shall shake like 
Lebanon : and they of the city shall flourish like grass 
of the earth." (Ps. lxxii : 16.) Every wind that wafts 
shall bear the winged grain abroad and finally the 
earth shall be filled with harvests. The fruit of 
the country shall feed the cities. 

The little stone quarried from the mountain may 
have been cut out at a great cost, and a deal of 
strength was necessary to start it rolling, but it will 
gain momentum and gather volume at every revolu- 
tion, and thus accreting it will finally fill the whole 
earth. The kingdom of heaven is like the leaven 
the woman hid in measures of meal. It will spread 
until the whole mass is leavened. All that is 
required are the hunger and faith of Elijah, and God 
will see to it that the barrel of meal shall not waste, 
nor the cruse of oil fail, and yet the prophet will be 
fed, and the church, as the widow of Zarephath, will 
have plenty, "according to the word of the Lord." 
(I Kings xvii: 8, 16.) 



MISSIONS PAY. 211 

To dislodge a handful of Modoc Indians from the 
lava beds cost the nation thirty millions of dollars. 
Had missions thus extravagantly used money we 
should never hear the end of the changes blind 
unbelief would ring on our prodigality. The whole 
sum contributed in America for missions, during the 
year of the Modoc war, was not one-fourth of the 
amount expended in the subjection of Capt. Jack 
and his "red devils." The United States expended 
on the civil war over one billion of dollars in paying 
the stipend of the officers and privates engaged in 
its prosecution. This money would pay the salary 
of all engaged in American foreign missions for 
five hundred years. The men and money em- 
ployed by Russia, for war purposes, converted 
into missionaries, would furnish the gospel to 
the Pagan world. If a single country of Christen- 
dom can thus engage men, at such a cost, to do 
nothing in time of peace but to afford military 
pageants to gratify the pride of a Czar, and a love of 
parade to the people, and in time of war to hurl the 
missiles of malignity, what ought the entire christian 
world be able to do to take the world for Christ? 
Every man employed as a soldier is a consumer, 
living on the industry of civilians. Every man killed 
in war is the loss of so much productive labor, could 
it be employed in husbandry and the mechanic arts. 
Missions mean peace; universal peace means pro- 
duction ; production means happiness and prosperity. 
Undoubtedly missions, when first planted, are costly 
when results are compared with agencies and their 



212 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

expense. It costs more fuel to get up steam than it 
does to run fifty miles when once it is generated. It 
took years of the toil of thousands of men and 
millions of money to tunnel the Alps, but once 
bored the expense of transportation is amazingly 
lessened. The Suez canal was an expensive under- 
taking, but look at the time and money now saved 
by the use of this channel of commerce. The Keely 
motor experiments have cost a million of dollars, yet 
should they solve the problem of hydraulic power, a 
giant propeller would so cheapen manufacturing and 
transportation that the enigma of poverty would be 
half solved. To establish missionary stations and 
win a few converts as starting material costs an 
amount appalling to mathematical cupidity, and 
statistical pessimists; but once let the number of 
centers and converts reach a certain point toward 
which missionary enterprise is rapidly forging, and 
the momentum of power and progress will so increase 
that the work of the world's evangelization will be 
speedily accomplished. Years of drilling the hidden 
reef of Hell-gate was necessary in order to honey- 
comb the perilous rock to receive its charges of 
dynamite; but the mine once loaded, the tiny hand 
of a little child touched the key and the electric 
spark leaped in an instant to the magazine, and the 
crystallization of years was shattered and splintered 
into innumerable fragments, and soon the dredging 
machine had lifted the obstruction and a safe path 
was opened for the keel of commerce. Paganism is 
a rock, but the missionary drills are at work, the 



MISSIONS PAY. 213 

gospel is filling the cavities with truth to explode 
hoary errors, and in such an hour as we wot not, a 
spark of divine fire will spring the mine, and the 
Old Ship of Zion will find free way for its commerce. 
Suppose the bed of the Mississippi, lowered by 
dredging, such as Capt. Eads proposed, and the 
mighty waters could find ample drainage to the sea, 
what millions of dollars of annual losses from the 
spring floods when the snow melts on the mountain, 
would be prevented, what vast area of arable land 
would be reclaimed for agriculture ! Only a few 
years of saving from disaster by inundation and of 
production from rich deltas now water-killed, would 
be sufficient to indemnity the cost and then the 
natural wealth would be rapidly enhanced. Pioneer 
work done for missions is of similar character. 
Deepen the channels of the world's thought, confine 
its deluge of doubt and despair to scriptural limits, 
and what waste of mind would be prevented, what 
mighty areas of productive reflection and invention 
and discovery would be added to the world's stock 
of knowledge ! Modern missions compare most 
favorably in their progress with the advances of the 
infant church in a miraculous age. Four-score years 
after pentecost, it is believed, the christian converts 
did not exceed one hundred thousand, in all the 
world. Eighty years after Carey baptized his first 
heathen convert, the native and nominal christians of 
India and Burmah exceeded half a million, of whom 
nearly 150,000 were communicants. The increase 
of ten years (61 per cent.) increased in a succeeding 



214 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

decade (86 per cent.) or 25 per cent. This ratio, 
while not maintaining so high a rate, is ever increas- 
ing. The cost of pagan converts per capita, is three 
times less than in the patron churches at home. 
Dr. John M. Reid, an incarnate encyclopedia of 
missionary facts, statistics and ratios, to whom we 
are indebted for valuable information and sugges- 
tions, affords the following data: "The Baptist 
Mission Union, in 1873, expended $239,417. The 
same year the Baptist Association -of Long Island 
expended $236,000 — almost the same sum. But 
the number of converts in the foreign field was 
eight times as great as in the home field. Converts 
in the Baptist Association of Southern New York 
that same year cost ten times as much as in the 
foreign field. In the Baptist Association of Black 
River, with no great cities and no great salaries, 
converts cost five times as much as in their foreign 
fields. The Congregationalist Churches of Massa- 
chusetts, from 1840 to 1866, had an average annual 
net increase of five to each church and five and 
a-half to each pastor. Their foreign work in the 
same twenty-six years had an average annual net 
increase of twenty to each church and of fourteen 
and a-half to each pastor. The Presbyterian church, 
from 1825 to 1875, kept the advance in the number 
of her missionaries about even with the advance in 
the number of her ministers at home. But the net 
increase of members was, in the foreign field com- 
pared with the home as three and one-half to one. 
The American Board did not expend as much in its 



MISSIONS PAY. 215 

first fifty years as is required, in Massachusetts, to 
build 150 miles of railroad. An emigrant is worth 
to this country the equivalent of $800 in capital. A 
single missionary in the South Sea Islands is worth 
to the commerce of England about $10,000 per 
annum." "The inexorable lapse of events''" is a 
monumental rebuke to the unfaith of Christendom. 
The economic results already tabulated should shame 
withholding cupidity into silence, if it cannot subju- 
gate the covetous heart and open the clasped hand. 
Since writing the foregoing, I have been permitted 
the perusal of a virile paper by Gen. B. R. Cowen, 
read before the Cincinnati Preachers' Meeting, with 
the liberty of freely using its contents. The reader 
will thank me for availing the privilege, at the 
expense, perhaps, of the unity of the chapter. 
What we appropriate may be regarded as addenda 
and credited to the eminent lay publicist. The lan- 
guage is not always his, but the data are of his collec- 
tion. He quotes the prince of geographers, Carl 
Ritter, as viz: "The change in the character of the 
New Zealand converts is the standing miracle of the 
age." The testimony of Charles Darwin is: "The 
progress of Japan is the greatest wonder of the 
world, but I declare that the progress of Fuegia is 
almost equally wonderful." These men simply 
acknowledge facts, as scientific observers compelled 
to candor. They made Darwin, the skeptic, an 
annual contributor to mission funds, purely on the 
ground of the economic value of missions to civili- 
zation and commerce. Gen. Cowen records the 



216 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

antagonism to missions from distinguished clergy- 
men, the Scottish General Assembly, the East India 
Company and the British parliament. The revolution 
of ideas in the cycle of a century is too patent for 
analysis, and is apparent when stated. He shows 
how ' ' the laws of caste, false science and philosophy, 
and history and geography, and fixed customs, and 
hoary prejudices that held pagan nations as in a 
mental and moral paralysis," have been overthrown, 
or undermined so that they are tottering to their fall, 
In spite of organized opposition, obstacles that 
would have been deemed insurmountable by the 
faithless, aided by the bad examples of debauched 
sailors, and unscrupulous traders, and the degrading 
influence of rum and the opium traffic, mercenary 
wars, and the imperfections of some missionaries, 
the gospel has held on in its triumphing way, proving 
that the power that has engineered the church was 
divine. The supreme test, "by their fruits" ye shall 
judge the tree, has been convincing to explorers, 
scientists, financiers and statesmen. That missions 
pay, has been demonstrated to the satisfaction of 
the candid, whose measure of esteem is graded by 
time-results. 

The reflex action ol missionary endeavor on the 
vitality of the home churches, forcibly illustrates the 
scriptural statement, — "he that watereth shall be 
watered himself." The blasphemy of Napoleon, — 
"God is on the side of the strong battalions," has 
been rebuked by men who hold that ' ' God and one 
good man is a majority," demonstrating that "the 



MISSIONS PAY. 217 

race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong." 
The .world sneered at a handful of fanatical tramps 
who started out for conquest bearing the single 
ensign of shame — the cross, on which an alleged 
malefactor expiated his crime as a blasphemer and a 
conspirator. Yet without rank or riches, shield or 
sword, they have gone on from conquering to con- 
quer, proving that their power was not by might but 
by My Spirit. The promise, ' ' Lo ! I am with you 
alway" — has been self-demonstrating. The facts 
match it, and keep it an unseen reinforcement follow- 
ing the march of the visible army of conquest. 
The miracles of to-day overtop those of the apostolic 
age. Missionary achievement is the chief glory and 
radiant crown of the current century. During the 
century, missionary societies have increased twenty- 
eight fold, or from seven to one-hundred and ninety- 
four. Missionaries have increased over forty fold, or 
from one hundred and seventy to seven thousand. 
Contributions for foreign missionary purposes have 
increased forty-five fold, or from two hundred and 
fifty thousand dollars to eleven and a quarter millions 
in America and Great Britain alone. Converts have 
increased from five thousand to three millions. 
Protestants now occupy five hundred fields with 
twenty thousand stations, and five hundred thousand 
children of heathen parents are being taught in 
christian schools; which schools have increased 
within the century two hundred fold, or from seventy 
to fourteen thousand. The translations of the scrip- 
tures have increased from fifty to three hundred and 



218 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

fifty languages and dialects. At the opening of the 
century there were but five millions of bibles in the 
world and they could be read by but one-fifth of the 
race. There are now more than one hundred and 
sixty million of copies, and they are within the 
reach of nine-tenths of earth's population. Japan is 
a trophy of the cross within the last twenty-five 
years. In one quadrennium converts in that Empire 
increased two hundred per cent. One hundred and 
fifty-three of the churches are self-supporting, and 
one hundred and fifty others are partly so. Contri- 
butions have kept pace with the march of conquest. 
The Empire has adopted the type of christian 
civilization, with a written constitution, a parliament, 
Sunday laws, the support of christian schools, the 
exemption of christian church property from taxa- 
tion, and the establishment of freedom of worship. 
The christian population of India is doubling every 
ten years, and at the present rate of progress it will 
reach one hundred and forty millions at the second 
centennial of Carey's first baptism, A. D. 1799. 
During the first five months of 1890, in a single 
elder's (Methodist) district in India there were 2,346 
baptisms, more than the whole number baptized by 
the Methodist missions, in India, during the first 
fifteen years of its career. The total increase of 
membership in the entire Methodist Episcopal 
mission field last year was twelve and one-half per 
cent, greater than the average increase in the entire 
church. In the miraculous first century of the 
christian era, but 500,000 disciples were gathered, 



MISSIONS PAY. 219 

which was less than one-half per cent, of the popu- 
lation of the Roman Empire. Compared with that, 
how wonderful the modern victories of the cross ! 
The progress of other missions is traced, showing 
similar results. The testimony of such scientists as 
Profs. Silliman, Agassiz, Whitney, Ritter, Balbi, and 
others is produced to prove the incalculable benefit 
accruing to science from the work of missionaries. 
The statement of Dr. Adams epitomizes this contri- 
bution and debt: "I believe more has been done in 
philology, geography and ethnology indirectly, by 
missionaries, than by all the royal and national 
societies in the world that devote themselves exclu- 
sively to these objects." 

Missionaries have translated into all the leading 
languages standard books on systematic theology, 
christian evidences, church history. More than one 
hundred scientific works have been printed by them 
in the Chinese tongue, and thirty thousand volumes 
are sold annually at cost in China. Many of these 
are text books in the government schools and in the 
examination of candidates for the civil service. Dr. 
Moffat, unaided, translated the whole bible into the 
language of South Africa, the most gigantic achieve- 
ment known to linguists. Livingstone's explorations 
from 1 84 1 to 1873 added largely to our knowledge 
of equatorial Africa, and blazed a path for Stanley. 
He reconstructed the map of Central Africa, receiv- 
ing a gold medal from the Royal Geographical 
Society of Great Britain — the highest honor conferred 
by that great patron of learning. The author saw 



220 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

Stanley trace his exploring march athwart the breast 
of Africa with a wand, and suiting the word to the 
action, say, all unconsciously ,Livingstone, in his path, 
made the sign of the cross over the dark conti- 
nent, a presage of christian conquest as signal as the 
celestial cross revealed to Constantine on the blue 
canopy of the sky, and to the eye of faith as dis- 
tinctly inscribed, (t ./n Hoc Signo Vlnces" 

His labors ended, with a breath of prayer, and a 
whisper of christian hope, a loving "native escort and 
pall-bearers bore back through the pathless wilder- 
ness the body of the great missionary. England 
received it with a naval transport, and with a pageant- 
ry befitting a prince, consigned his body a sleeping 
place amid England's heroes, statesmen and scholars, 
in Westminster Abbey, in a tomb as proud as that in 
which Capulets, Howards and Plantagenets repose. 
The magnificent possession of Oregon and contig- 
uous territory is due to the sagacity of missionaries. 
After giving the history of the occupation of the 
Pacific coast and its rapid development as the western 
balance of the United States, Gen. Cowen, himself a 
brigadier-general of Union troops, with no mean mili- 
tary record, and the honored Assistant Secretary of 
the Interior in the cabinet of President Grant, inter- 
jects the following statement and opinion : ' 'When the 
death-struggle between freedom and slavery came, 
instead of having the aid of our Pacific possessions 
in the scale of freedom we should have been con- 
fronted with the French occupancy of Mexico 
extending North to the 42°. and a British occupancy 



MISSIONS PAY. 221 

of all the territory north of that parallel and west 
of the Rocky Mountains. We might have conquered 
Mexico with Great Britain as her active ally, and we 
might have put down the rebellion with half of our 
own people, and France, England and Austria against 
us, and then, we might not. Looking back, as an 
humble actor in its scenes, on that great struggle, I 
am free to say we could not ha?'e done it. But the 
strategy of Providence conquered that vast territory 
with its untold and constantly increasing wealth, for 
freedom and protestantism, without bloodshed, by 
merely sending out a handful of missionaries a dozen 
years before, and thus gave us a country larger than 
the Atlantic seaboard. " Looked at from a humani- 
tarian standpoint, Lecky summarizes the situation in 
these words: "The high conception of human life, 
the protection of infancy, the elevation and final 
emancipation of the slave classes, the suppression of 
barbarous games, the creation of a vast and multifa- 
rious organization of charity, the education of the 
imagination by the christian type, constitute together 
a movement of philanthropy which has never been 
paralleled, or approached in the pagan world." 

Professional humanitarians ignoring the Christ-idea, 
infidels, agnostics, theosophists, have never marked 
their path- with the monuments of mercy, nor muni- 
ments of liberty. They have planted no retreats of 
benevolence for the afflicted of earth, erected no 
light-houses on the reefs of ignorance and supersti- 
tion, or done any other charitable thing to mitigate 
the woes, or dry the tears of. suffering humanity. 



222 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

Dr. Christlieb, in his address in New York, before 
the Evangelical Alliance, refers to the fruit of unbe- 
lief in the institutions for the extension of God's 
kingdom, and notes the paralysis which followed its 
ascendancy. He says: "The German mission in 
Tranquebar flourished vigorously during the former 
part of the last century, till the triumph of rational- 
ism at home dried up its support and caused it to 
wither away. And how do these liberals seek to 
malign and hinder the work of .missions and of 
mercy now, by distorted criticisms? The institutions 
of our inner missions (home charities) have been 
founded and supported by the love and liberality of 
believers, while unbelievers have done little else 
than embitter their existence by repeated attacks." 
It is pertinent to add, sixteen years ensuing this 
statement, that under the missionary influence re- 
newed by the re-ascendancy of orthodoxy in Germany, 
slavery has been abolished in Zanzibar, and revived 
religion holds its throne on the east coast of Africa. 
In the same address the great German orthodox 
divine showed from personal witness how, in the 
time of war, the rationalistic clergy proved impotent 
to satisfy the spiritual cravings of the suffering and 
dying. He then pertinently showed how plainly 
" History tells us that apostasy from the faith very, 
soon deprives a nation of its authority and power". . 
li The new faith (Strauss), practically carried out, is the 
commune, which, during the ascendancy, was always 
prating of philosophy. Unbelief will ruin every 
nation which does not in time resist its all-poisoning 



MISSIONS PAY. 223 

influences." As the infidel Bolingbroke confessed: 
"Be the origin of Christianity where it may have 
been, on earth or in heaven, and confining its bene- 
fits to time, and blotting out all hope of immortality, 
it has proven itself the greatest elevator and bene- 
factor of mankind." 



224 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 



CHAPTER XII. 

MISSION METHODS AND MOTIVES. 

The open and opening doors call loudly on tne 
church to enter in and improve its opportunities. 
Every separating and excluding wall has been breach- 
ed. There are now no hermit nations — no sealed 
ports. The flag of the cross can sail into any harbor, 
and this glorious ensign may float along side the 
standard of any country. A business that pays like 
missions, and which is so constantly enlarging, 
requires more men and means. The growing wealth 
of Christendom is amply able to supply the demand. 
Ten thousand christian soldiers, under competent 
leaders and officers, can rout the Moslem power in 
Africa. Could not an army of the cross be recruited, 
armed and equipped, to overthrow the slave-trade, 
suppress the Mohammedan slave-traders, protect the 
natives from their incursions, teach them the arts of 
husbandry and mechanics, guard the rivers and roads 
and telegraph lines, garrison the stations, and thus, 
in a decade, redeem a continent from the night of 
ages? All that would be required is that the army 
of occupation should be composed of christian young 
men, with the spirit of peace behind their arms. They 
need not be learned, they need not be other than 
protectors. Let them be accompanied with mission- 
ary teachers, surgeons, physicians, mechanics and 



MISSION METHODS AND MOTIVES. 225 

farmers. Cast up a highway, guard it from all that 
can hurt and destroy. Prohibit rum and narcotics. 
Drain the morasses ; clear the brakes ; and the wilder- 
ness and solitary places will be made glad. The 
deadly coast fever and other climatal influences that 
have made Africa the graveyard of missionaries, 
under proper hygienic measures, and skillful medi- 
cal treatment, will disappear ; emigration will be 
invited, a vast market will be created for the farm 
and factory products of christian lands, and peace 
and plenty will prevail. What Peter the Hermit, 
taught by experience, instinct with the grace and 
gentleness of Protestant evangelism, and christian 
commerce, will preach this tenth crusade? Every 
christian nation and empire can furnish and support a 
brigade, and the problem that has perplexed the 
philanthropist and the statesman will be solved. No 
such massacre as that inflicted by Mtesa in Uganda, 
resulting in the martyrdom of Bishop Hannington, 
his co-laborers and the African converts, could occur. 
Force would be employed only in the interest of 
mercy. Power to punish the incorrigible being 
• present, it would probably never be actively needed. 
We offer the suggestion, knowing full well that cer- 
tain casuists will object to any movement that bears 
the sword, however consecrated. But we have the 
example of the conquest of the Promised Land by 
Joshua and Caleb, and we are, like they were, 
abundantly able to go up and possess the land. We 
propose nothing like the conquest of India, or the 
possession of Hong Kong by Great Britain, nor even 



226 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

the American Indian policy, which have furnished 
bloody chapters, anent the spirit of true Christianity, 
and only deserving of rank in history with the 
massacre of Saint Bartholomew. But it is strange 
that any Briton, who justifies the English possession 
of India, and Burmah, or any American who can 
find apology for the garrisons among the savages of 
the west, can cavil as to such a missionary army and 
policy as we have ventured to suggest. 

If desired, let an International Congress be institu- 
ted that shall have direction and control of such an 
army of mercy; or let some neutral power like that 
of Switzerland or the Netherlands, be put in charge 
of the movement. Thus the free State of Congo 
would speedily become a fait accompli '. Soon railroads 
would chequer the continent, and the rivers and 
lakes would swarm with steamers. Cities would 
spring up like magic. The fabled miracles wrought 
by Anacreon's lyre of love would become realized 
ideals. lt The desert would blossom as the rose" 
and victorious Christendom could transform the forty- 
fourth Psalm into its pean of praise. Then the figura- 
tive hymn would become a realistic song : 

" Forward be our watchword, 
Steps and voices joined ; 
Seek the things before us, 
Not a look behind. 
Burns the fiery pillar 
At our army's head ; 
Who shall dream of shrinking, 
By our Captain led? 
Forward through the desert, 
Through the toil and fight ; 
Forward through the darkness, 
Forward with the light ! " 



MISSION METHODS AND MOTIVES. 227 

If christian powers are justified in .the military 
possession of semi-barbarous and savage lands for 
commercial purposes, then, by a parity of reasoning, 
all cavils should down before the gracious object 
proposed by such a crusade. 

But let Christendom prosecute to a successful 
conclusion the suppression and prohibition of the 
liquor traffic and the cost of missionary endeavor, 
whatever form it may assume, would be the merest 
bagatelle. "When a human being is perishing in 
flood or flame, we do not stop to assure ourselves 
that we are doing the best thing to save him, but 
with almost frantic sympathy we seize any instru- 
mentality at hand, and cry out to every idler, ' For 
God's sake, do something ! ' Should we do less for 
a suffering, imperiled world ? Surely not ! Cease to 
be so choice about methods and economies, and fot 
God's sake do something!" (Dr. John M. Reid.) 

Shall England send an army through the dreary 
Soudan to rescue the imprisoned Gordon, and Chris- 
tendom boggle and higgle over an expenditure to 
break the chain and dispel the night that has made 
Africa the Niobe of the nations ? 

Can we recall the barbarities of the slave trade 
practiced by our forefathers and new pursued by 
the Mohammedanary oppressers of Africa, and sink 
rnto maudlin sentimentality, and resort to crocodile 
tears when one has the temerity to suggest deliver- 
ance that will cut the gordian-knot the sagacity of 
ages has sought vainly to untie ? The man of Mace- 
donia utters his appealing cry from this vast Acel- 



228 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

dema, and we hesitate and halt to answer with an 
agency that will speedily deliver the agonizing from 
" error's chain." Look at outraged Africa, bleeding 
at every pore, pillaged by cruel and law-defying 
marauders, where the slave-hunt excites no more 
pity than the baying of hounds in a fox-chase! 
What pen can portray the horrors that have ridden 
Africa like a hideous nightmare, and stained her 
Pagan altars with the blood of human sacrifices? 

" O, could I picture out the full effect 
Of that soul-withering power, idolatry, 
I'd write a page which, whoso dared to read, 
His eye, instead of tears, in crimson drops should bleed." 

Let us bear the cross into the very stronghold of 
Mohammedan imposture and cruelty, turn her false 
shrines into christian altars, her harems into sancti- 
fied homes, and her slave-marts into forums of 
freedom. This debasing religion carved its way to 
its throne of tyranny with the cimeter, and its crescent 
is crimsoned with the gore of murdered millions. A 
righteous indignation should heed the martyrs crying 
from beneath the altar, "How long?'* — and the 
answer should be swift, "no longer, O, Lord! " 

Baptize the sword and bless the banners of an 
army, all-consecrate to Christ, and by one mammoth, 
majestic movement let us end the long, dark night of 
this foul and avaricious imposture. 

Then again the church must multiply her agents, 
and instead of an assembly, association, or confer- 
ence, with scores of constituted churches, rich in 
men and money, let each great congregation send a 



MISSION METHODS AND MOTIVES. 229 

representative to the foreign field. In the ears of 
the Lord God of Sabaoth the call for a million a 
year from the church boasting three millions of 
members (the Methodist), startling our covetousness 
as if the insane cry of a fanatic, or fakir, is but a 
gentle whisper, a slight admonition of duty. Aye, 
more ! — the time is at hand when families will each 
support representatives in the mission field — not only 
the rich, but those in which there are several self- 
supporting members. One case is known in which 
three sisters, sewing girls, discussed the question of 
duty, and selecting the best educated to go, she 
consenting, the two that remained at home provided 
for the missionary. 

It is said that the Moravians have a missionary to 
every fifty of their members, the other forty-nine 
furnishing the means of support. The Moravians, as 
a class, are not rich, though their christian abstemi- 
ousness, simplicity and frugality make them inde- 
pendent. Their liberality and severe honesty 
prevent affluence, they regarding it a sin to accrete 
at the expense of liberality. What the world owes 
to this simple-hearted, devout people only the judg- 
ment audit will make known. John Huss, the 
Bohemian reformer and martyr, was their progeni- 
tor. They were the outcome of the Hussite war, 
the Bohemian National Church being based upon the 
compactata of Basle. They begun foreign missions in 
1732 and since that time they have sent out nearly 
2,500 missionaries. The annual cost of their 
existing missions is $250,000. They number in the 



230 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

home churches less than 30,000. They have 1,767 
laborers engaged in gospel mission work, and their 
membership in their missions is 98,000. Their 
pastors number 248. They have over seven mission- 
ary laborers to one pastor, and over three mission 
members to one home. What is done by one 
denomination of christians, and that mostly com- 
posed of the middle classes, can be easier done by 
other wealthier sects. The Moravians are not 
ignorant nor the patrons of ignorance. They sup- 
port forty-eight prosperous boarding schools, and 
some of them impart so fine a quality of instruction 
that they are liberally patronized by people of rank 
and fortune. The Moravian seminary for girls at 
Bethlehem, Pa., and that for boys at Nazareth, Pa., 
are esteemed as among the institutions of first class 
in the United States. They own gospel ships espe- 
cially employed to supply the missionaries with the 
necessaries of life — they scrupulously ignoring luxu- 
ries that the number of laborers may be kept at the 
maximum of their ability. They practice at home 
and abroad the most rigid economy that they may 
have the more to give to them that lack. They 
have not only maintained a fertile piety among them- 
selves, but have inseminated other churches with 
gospel seed from which some of their richest harvests 
spring. Missionaries itinerate through all the 
countries of continental Europe, organizing societies 
for prayer, scriptural exegesis, and experimental 
witness, the members of which do not withdraw 
from the communion of the established churches. 



MISSION METHODS AND MOTIVES. 231 

What a debt does Methodism owe to the chance or 
providential contact of John Wesley with Peter 
Bohler, and the tranquil Moravians amid the threat- 
ening storm encountered in Wesley's passage to 
America. Labrador and Greenland are the prizes of 
Moravian zeal; and the names of Gradenhutten, 
Christian David and the Stach brothers stand high on 
1 ' fame's eternal bead-roll ' ' and bright in ' 'the Lamb's 
book of life." No sublimer spectacle ever drew 
earthward the admiring gaze of angels than the 600 
Moravian exiles who, though poor and persecuted, 
resolved on the conquest of the world for Christ. 
They penetrate to the heart of Asia, and planted 
their stations at the extremity of the southern 
peninsula ; they set their tabernacles in the north of 
Africa and the cape of Good Hope; they push 
through the ice-floes to Greenland and Labrador ; 
they seize Guiana. Talk of the tomb of chivalry 
the 300 Spartans built for themselves at Thermopylae, 
the charge of the light brigade "into the jaws of 
death, into the mouth of hell" at Balaclava ! Their 
exploits and military martyrdom called for no such 
temper of courage as that which led this forlorn hope 
in its emprize for Christ. They brave the rigors of 
a Polar clime, make a path of mercy through eternal 
snows, blister and burn beneath a tropical sun, 
encounter the perils of pestilence, share the hospi- 
tality of Esquimaux, Indians and negro slaves, 
suffer chastisement at the hands of those they came 
to bless and save, depend for subsistence on fishing 
for walrus, or the precarious returns of the chase 



232 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

over icy fields and through pathless woods ; scorched 
by equatorial heat, they "endure hardness as good 
soldiers," such as challenge comparison with the 
tortures of Regulus and Mutius Scaevola, the sacrifice 
of Curtius and the fidelity of Horatius. 

When anything universally approximating their 
faith, zeal and fortitude becomes the consecrating 
spirit of the church, no barrier can stay its march, 
no perils intimidate its volunteers, and no power of 
earth or hell resist its victorious aggressiveness and 
encroachments. 

Do we say such ideals are bootless, such zeal 
Quixotic, such enterprise Utopian! "Think what 
spirit dwells within thee, what a Savior died to win 
thee ! " Think what exemplars are thine — " a cloud 
of witnesses who, through faith, subdued kingdoms, 
wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped 
the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, 
escaped the edge of the sword, waxed valiant in 
fight, turned to flight the armies of aliens ; women 
received their dead raised to life, and others had 
trials of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, more- 
over, of bonds and imprisonment!" Think of the 
Pauline devotion and spirit of vicarious sacrifice, 
exclaiming in the prospect of execution, "neither 
count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might 
finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I 
have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gos- 
pel of the grace of God ! " 

Have we no book of Maccabees to write, no 
Spartan courage to prove, no apostolic surrender to 



MISSION METHODS AND MOTIVES. 233 

make? Are there no recruits for M the noble army of 
martyrs ? " Is the church of the age incapable of fur- 
nishing material for a modern eleventh chapter of the 
Epistle to the Hebrews ? Must the Moravians alone 
bear the cross of sacrifice ? Thank God, the age in 
which we live is not without its cloud of witnesses! 
Among the immortals we record the names of Gard- 
iner and Gordon, Pattison and Lyman, Gradenhutten 
and David, Halleck and Damiens. Take the dying 
words of Bishop Hannington, the Stephen of Uganda: 
' ' I am about to die for Uganda, and have purchased 
the road to them with my life." Take this account 
from his life by Principal Dawson : ' ' The youth — 
pages at the court of Mtesa and christian converts — 
were taken with Kakamba and Mr. Ashe's boy, and 
also Serwanga, a tall, fine fellow, who had been 
baptized. These three were then tortured, their 
arms were cut off, and they were bound alive to a 
scaffolding, under which a fire was made, and they 
were sloivly burned to death. As they hung in their 
protracted agony over the flames, Majasi and his 
men stood around jeering, and told them to pray now 
to Isa Masya (Jesus Christ) if they thought he could 
do anything to help them. The spirit of martyrs at 
once entered into these lads, and together they raised 
their voices and praised Jesus in the fire, singing till 
their shrivelled tongues refused to form the sound, 
Killa Sikn tunsifu: 

" Daily, daily sing to Jesus, 
Sing, my soul, His praises due ; 
All. he does deserves our praises, 
And our deep devotion, too. 



234 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

For in deep humiliation 

He for us did live below ; 

Died 'on Calvary's cross of torture, 

Rose to save our souls from woe." 

Hannington was a scion of England's best blood, 
carefully educated, highly beloved, yet he turned 
away from ease and elegance, home and honor, to 
give a deeper dye to soil already crimson with martyr 
blood. His life was given for these poor benighted 
negroes. But it was not wasted. "A life is not 
always thrown away when it is poured out — as was 
the water of the well of Bethlehem at the feet of 
the Great King ; otherwise the costly missile from 
the great piece of ordinance would be thrown away 
when in breaking down the wall of the enemies' 
fortress, it is broken itself. And what did this 
Martyr-Bishop of the modern church achieve? He 
died at the early age of thirty-eight. He had 
not time to do many things, and yet he did much. 
Not to mention the deep impress of his own per- 
sonality which he had left upon those who were 
brought into close contact with him, he has given 
to missions in East Africa an impulse of which 
we may confidently expect that it will not lose 
the momentum. He has completed the circle of 
that great ring of christian stations of which the 
signet stone is Victoria Nyanza, and in joining the 
two ends, has welded them together with his death. 
To us he has left the priceless legacy of a devoted 
life, an example that will not have been set before 
this generation in vain. Others will be stirred by 
the recital of his gallant attempt, and his fall on the 



MISSION METHODS AND MOTIVES. 235 

very ramparts of the fortress, to step forward and 
uplift the banner that has dropped from his dying 
hands. What if his busy hands and feet, torn from 
his body, now rattle in the wind above the gateway 
of some savage town ! What if the bleaching skull, 
wherein once his active brain wrought for the good 
of all, now hangs like a beacon from the leafless arm 
of some withered tree ! He would have been the 
first to tell us that no such thing could affect his life. 
For that was hid with Christ in God. The world is 
his tomb. Somewhere on its circumference lie his 
mortal parts. Wherever that may be we know that 
his sleep is sweet. Obdormivit in Christo" (Life of 
Bishop Hannington.) 

Such sacrifices are inspirations. They come upon 
the drooping heart like spring showers on the frozen 
earth. They quicken the roots of faith. They tell 
us of the reviving season — 

" When withered flowers shall bloom again, 
Bright through the years of love's triumpnant reign." 

The heart is a stranger to grace that does not melt 
at such a story. The hand is closed by a fatal palsy 
that does not unclasp, and feel with feverish haste for 
the purse-strings, when such nobility is manifested. 
How such offerings shame our apathy ! How little 
can we enjoy our luxurious exemption from privation 
and pain while willing to recline on the down of ease, 
without an impulse or effort to revenge such martyrs 
by making reprisals of grace of the souls, for whose 
benefit they died ! 



236 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

The soldier of Christ will not count his life too 
dear to lay it down. Even the pagan Plato reck- 
oned life as too small a boon to preserve it at the 
cost of principle. Read the dialogue: ''And do 
you think that a spirit, full of lofty thoughts, and 
privileged to contempla-te all time and all existence, 
can possibly attach any great importance to life ? 

"No, it is impossible. 

"Then such a person will not regard death as a 
formidable thing, will he ? 

"Certainly not." (Plato: Republic.') 

Paul counted life as "dung," if duty prompted the 
putting of it in peril. But missionaries seem to prize 
life more lightly than misers do their money. The 
courage to give gold seems rarer among rich laymen, 
than is the courage of missionaries to surrender life 
to pestilence and persecution in the prosecution of 
their work to win the world to the cross they bear 
and exalt. Weep not for those who have won and 
wear the martyr's crown. The last words the glori- 
ous Hannington wrote his English friends, scribbled 
by the flickering light of a camp-fire, were: "If 
this is the last chapter of my earthly history, then 
the next will be the first page of the heavenly — no 
blots and smurges, no incoherence, but sweet con- 
verse in the presence of the Lamb." In this hurry- 
graph we have the talisman. To live was Christ : 
to die was gain. His favorite cheer-words to his 
faltering companions were, "Never be disappointed, 
only praise." The last words of Bishop Janes were, 
11 1 am not disappointed : " nor was Hannington. He 



MISSION METHODS AND MOTIVES. 237 

sees "the King in his beauty." He met death with- 
out alarm. When his executioners hesitated he 
pointed to his own gun, which, thus assured, one of 
the black guards discharged, and his sublime spirit 
unfurled its wings, and fluttered out of its broken 
cage of clay, and with one bold dash skyward 
entered into the presence of his Lord. We may not 
stay our requiems, nor dry our eyes, "but reason 
and religion better taught, congratulate the dead and 
crown his tomb with wreath triumphant. " Of such 
"the world is not worthy." But we are left to make 
it worthy of a Savior rejected, and of saints martyred. 

" Weep not for the saints that ascend 

To partake of the joys of the sky, 
Weep not for the seraph that bends 

With the "worshiping chorus on high ; 
But weep for the mourners who stand 

By the grave of their brother in sadness, 
And -weep for the heathen whose land 

Still must wait for the day-spring of gladness." 

But these things are not written to glorify the 
dead, but to inspire the living. They being 
dead yet speak. Let us hear them, and heed them, 
by sending an hundred to take the place of each one 
who has fallen. We will vindicate their memories by 
completing the work they begun. What a monu- 
ment will redeemed Africa be to those that, in striv- 
ing for her recovery, found sepulture in her 
virgin soil ! 

Looking at the world as the theatre of moral en- 
deavor, passing in review its degradations, hatreds 
and hostilities, poverty and pain, how majestic seems 
the scheme for its redemption ! Climbing up Zion's 



238 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

hill and gazing cross-ward athwart the Golgothas 
and Gethsemanes that interlie, and seeing, threading 
the vales and streets, the vast procession of biers 
bearing yearly thirty-five millions of ruined souls to 
Gehenna, how appealing to sympathy the sight, how 
beseeching the spectacle of weeds and woe ! Vault- 
ing to the skies, sweeping through the gates ajar, 
poising on balanced wings before the great white 
throne, behold the Man of Sorrows "touched with a 
feeling of our infirmities," throwing down his cross 
upon the court, tessellated with gold, and by all his 
crucial agonies, by the combined worth of a billion 
of immortal souls, to whom the church has delayed 
these eighteen hundred years to bear the message of 
salvation, hear him impleading for that delinquent 
and dilatory church that it may become enlivened 
with his own sacrificial spirit, that it may forego its 
schisms and strifes about the home-altars and fly on 
its errand abroad ; survey this scene, that holds the 
host of heaven in hushed awe and adoring silence, 
and if your bowels of compassion do not melt, if 
indifference does not seem insanity, and the conse- 
crated surrender of all adapted agencies, and hoarded 
treasures, but a paltry repayment, the smallest 
tribute grateful love would not blush to offer reluc- 
tantly, then know that your own heart is yet held in 
the bonds of iniquity and the gall of bitterness. 

The professor who cannot feel for the woes of 
earth's benighted, and lends no hand to help in 
dispelling the Pagan night, as Christlieb says, "is 
the object, not the subject, of missions." A chris- 



MISSION METHODS AND MOTIVES. 239 

tian without the spirit of missions is a light-house 
without a kindled lamp. He monuments the reef, 
but memorializes wrecks more than rescues. If he 
does not shine he is a sham. He is seen in the 
garish light of day, but by night he is a lure. 

Oh, when shall the accursed lust of gold and thirst 
for power, that keep the wings of the evangel of 
the faith weighed down when it should be spread- 
ing its mighty vans in the midst of the heavens and 
dropping the healing leaves for the sick and suffering 
nations, be dispelled ! — 

"My heart awake !— to feel is to be fired, 
And to believe, Lorenzo, is to feel." 



240 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 



CHAPTER XIII. 
RELIGIOUS LIMITS OF ACCUMULATION. 

Is there a religious limit to accumulation, or may 
one in the pursuit of wealth go on using the cumula- 
tive power of capital to accrete, unchecked by 
society, unrebuked by conscience ?, Does the pro- 
verbial prayer, "Give me neither poverty nor riches; 
lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the 
Lord ? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the 
name of my God in vain," (Prov. xxx : 8, 9.) — con- 
tain a principle, or is it the mere expression 
of a fear ? 

From the general tenor of scriptural teaching and 
of observation, we must conclude that it expresses 
the happy mean to which it is legitimate to aspire 
and beyond which it would be dangerous to go. The 
desire for accumulation merely for the sake of owner- 
ship, the pride of life, or the power it brings to the 
possessor, tends, greatly, to that self-importance 
which makes one haughty and imperious. It tends 
to self-dependence and luxurious ease, as in the case 
of the self-complacent soul who would enlarge his 
barns for the storage of increased, super-abounding 
plenty, and take his ease in the presence of surround- 
ing poverty, and despite the numerous calls for aid to 
promote the good of society, by public charities 
and the extension of morality and religion. If one 



RELIGIOUS LIMITS OF ACCUMULATION. 241 

may continue to be "diligent in business" that he 
may "serve the Lord," using added gains to compe- 
tency for promoting the welfare of men and the glory 
of God, has a. man, endowed with business talents, 
having acquired a comfortable fortune, the right to 
live in idle, not to say pampered, ease ? Is this not 
a burying of ten talents ? Work is a duty. If pov- 
erty furnishes no justification for idleness, wealth can 
find no moral apology for luxurious indolence. Does 
there come a time when a man endowed with five or 
ten talents may have so improved them as to say 
justly, ' ' Lord, I have made plenty and I want the 
ease I have coveted, therefore I will retire from busi- 
ness, and take comfort in the money thy gifts have 
enabled me to make? ,; That man is under obligation 
to use his ability for God, to glorify him in his body, 
to live for Christ and die for gain. He must make 
money for God and humanity. Beyond the religious 
limit he must give his gains to help the needs of his 
less fortunate fellows. Men are making haste to get 
rich that they may early cease to work, and, thereby, 
incurring disease, providing for a sour and querulous 
old age, or inviting premature death. When the 
goal of fortune is reached, they find themselves 
defeated by their haste. Broken in health, food 
palls on the appetite, sleep refuses to curtain the eye, 
and a nervous unrest, or shaking palsy, refuses 
repose to every limb. Thus an avenging Nemesis 
follows on the track of every offender of divine law, 
and finally overtakes the fugitive culprit. A pru- 
dent use of one's powers would have preserved 



242 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

them, and a longer period would have ensued for 
rational toil and current enjoyment and usefulness. 

But supposing that there has been a conservation 
of life's forces, and plenty has come Without a weak- 
ening of faculty and energy, may a christian give up 
business and live on the fruit of his opportunities, 
genius, or labor? Does he owe God, and the church 
and humanity nothing after he has amply provided 
for himself? The man who received one talent hid 
it in the earth, and was condemned on that account 
as wicked and slothful ; his endowment was taken 
from him, and the unprofitable servant was cast into 
outer darkness. Had he used his talent for a season 
and then buried it, he would have been apostate to 
duty. He who has five or ten talents cannot surcease 
to employ them for the mere enjoyment of ease. If 
he does not need to work for self-support, and may 
not for self-aggrandizement, he must, religiously, 
continue to employ his gifts for the glory of God 
and the good of men. In respect to christian get- 
ting and giving, as in other respects, we are to 
remember that ' ' we are made partakers of Christ, 
if we hold the beginning of our confidence 
steadfast unto the end." (Heb. iii : 14.) In showing 
the danger and guilt of apostasy the Apostle says: 
"For the earth which drinketh in the rain that 
cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet 
for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing 
from God: 

"But that which beareth thorns and briers is 
rejected, and is nigh unto cursing ; whose end is to 
be burned. 



RELIGIOUS LIMITS OF ACCUMULATION. 243 

"But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of 
you, and things that accompany salvation, though 
we thus speak. 

' ' For God is not unrighteous to forget your work 
and labor of love, which ye have shewed toward his 
name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and 
do minister. 

"And we desire that every one of you do shew 
the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto 
the end: 

' ' That ye be not slothful, but followers of them 
who through faith and patience inherit the promises. 

"For when God made promise to Abraham, be- 
cause he could swear by no greater, he sware by 
himself, 

' ' Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and 
multiplying I will multiply thee. 

"And so, after he had patiently endured, he ob- 
tained the promise." (Heb. vi : 7, 15.) 

We have known ministers of the gospel, when 
suddenly possessed of a fortune by a happy specu- 
lative turn, by marriage, or by inheritance, to abandon 
the pulpit, give themselves to travel, literary luxury, 
or epicurean ease ; when, had necessity prodded 
them, they would have continued to preach and in 
pastoral labors until death or old age ended their 
opportunity. It requires no particular clearness of 
vision to read the motives of those who thus aposta- 
tize from their high calling of God and return to 
the weak and beggarly elements of the world. Every 
one is ready to say that the " deceitfulness of riches" 



244 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

has choked the word. But a christian layman 
whom God hath called to the making of money for 
his glory and human good, is none the less culpable 
who, when smiled upon by plenty, turns from the 
field of duty to repose and self-indulgence. He 
owes the Giver of all Good the grateful return of 
diligence in business, that he may help forward the 
causes of benevolence and the evangelization of the 
world. If the minister, suddenly possessed of 
wealth, could have the grace to forego the service 
of the rich and turn to the poor, who could requite 
his toil only with grateful love, people would not be 
slow to discern his christian-like sacrifice, so worthy 
of the Savior who ' ' though rich, became poor, 
that we, through his poverty, might be made rich." 
The question of ease and taste and inclination 
must be carefully considered in its relations to selfish 
indulgence, and ability to be useful to society. A 
literary recluse, a mere book-worm, greedily devour- 
ing the treasures he has accumulated in his library, 
absorbing and assimilating the wisdom of the past 
and the output of his contemporaries, and giving 
forth nothing to enrich the mental stores of others, 
has entered upon a hermit life, that may not be 
excused. And if such seclusion and insulation from 
the world cannot be justified in one capable of being 
a mental benefactor of his fellows, on what ground 
is the business man of money-making endowments 
to be pardoned for retiracy, when by remaining 
active he could bless mankind with the fruits of his 
judgment and skill ? 



RELIGIOUS LIMITS OP' ACCUMULATION. 245 

Suppose a fortune to be secured by some happy- 
turn, or skillful deal, >early in life, would the young- 
millionaire be morally right in escaping further exer- 
tion and enterprise, and in living a self-indulgent life 
extending over many years ? Are not many wearing 
away the hinges of life, and inviting a premature 
decline of health or wreck of constitution, in the 
haste to become rich, and thus to earn a long reprieve 
from business anxiety and care ? Dreams of indo- 
lent ease possess many ambitious minds at the very 
threshold of a business career; and, infatuated by 
illusive fancies, they plunge into the activities of trade 
or the hazards of speculation, and soon become 
immersed in a sea of troubles that impair strength 
and waste vitality in their efforts to keep their heads 
above the water, and make a successful swim to some 
happy shore that imagination has conjured, and 
fancy painted with brightest colors of verdure and 
flowers. 

Many hidden snares are set for such eager spirits, 
and oftentimes when apparently afloat on some pro- 
pitious flood-tide they fancy "leads on to fortune," 
suddenly find themselves entangled in the meshes of 
a net from which their boldest strokes fail to extri- 
cate them. If it be suggested that such ventures 
are justified by some benevolent end in view, then 
the mind has surrendered itself to the sophisms of 
casuistry rather than the processes and conclusions 
of a cool, calm and calculating judgment. The per- 
plexities ensuing on hot haste for a fortune rob 
existence of its sweet contentments, shake and shat- 



246 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

ter the citadel of health, superinduce obstacles to 
mental and moral improvement, and erect barriers to 
family enjoyment and social delights. With many 
such, their sun goes down while it is yet day, 
and drops suddenly from meridian brightness into 
the blackness of darkness. - ' Make haste slowly, " is 
as wise a maxim when applied to business pur- 
suits as to any other conceivable subject. There are 
many Elims in the desert of life, and it is our duty 
as well as privilege to turn in and -rest beneath the 
shade of their palms, and refresh ourselves by grate- 
ful draughts at their cooling fountains. 

Exhaustion of time and hoarding of treasure at 
the expense of one's powers, and current occasions 
of benevolence, are means which no end can excuse. 
If a family be neglected in the mad effort for fortune, 
and the result of omitted discipline be wayward sons 
and frivolous daughters, then the father has disquieted 
himself in vain, and heaped up riches, not knowing 
who shall gather them, and the end, in numberless 
cases, is disappointment and defeat. Then such hab- 
its of covetousness are formed, that when the end is 
attained, benevolence has been stifled, and the good 
in view is never consummated. The man lives and suc- 
ceeds to find himself at last a miser guarding his hoard 
of cankering gold, steeled to the entreaty of charity, 
and deaf to the whispers of celestial voices inviting to 
deeds of unselfish love. The projected hospital is not 
endowed, the proposed church is not built, the 
intended college never materializes, and the man who 
might have enriched life by current deeds of benevo- 



RELIGIOUS LIMITS OF ACCUMULATION. 247 

lence and the gratitude of those about him, vegetates 
rather than lives; and finally, jejune and friendless, 
survives through a dreary autumn to die on the verge 
of winter, to leave his fortune to prodigals or ingrates, 
or bequeathing legacies of benefaction, superinduces 
litigation to defeat his dying intentions, which feed 
the cormorant hunger of unscrupulous lawyers. 

Read the diary of suicide and learn how many men, 
caught in the swirl of panics, have ended life in 
despair, and refused thus to encounter the privations 
of penury and the pains of irremediable bankruptcy. 
How many, too, suddenly embarrassed by declining 
markets, have been tempted to deeds of dishonor, 
and, ia the effort to outride a financial storm, made 
shipwreck of character, been consigned to prisons, or 
lived branded with dishonor ! In a shipwreck a man 
will save his jewels, whatever baggage may sink with 
the vessel. Now, we are all destined to strike the 
reef of death ; and happy is the man that rescues the 
jewels of character, and floats into celestial port with 
these treasures secured. 

The man w 7 ho foregoes all current pleasures in the 
vain forecast of ease at the end of twenty years of toil 
and frugality, is apt to miss his mark. For it remains 
true that not one in fifty who meditates retiring from 
business, when one or another end is reached, finds 
himself willing or ready to retire when the fixed goal 
is reached or past. Still, this common infatuation 
cheats multitudes out of health and happiness, con- 
tentment and comfort, culture and charity. Gener- 
ally, his plants are costly and must be run, or the 



248 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

capital invested in them be wasted ; or credit has been 
so widely extended that years must be consumed ere 
obligations to others can be met; or habits have crys- 
talized which cannot be made plastic to new conditions, 
and the deluded victim comes to his last end as bur- 
dened with business as when, in the heyday of hope, 
he flattered himself that the day of unburdening 
would come and leave him at ease in the evening. 

And what noble thoughts would men have of a 
highly endowed, successful business" man, who, hav- 
ing established his trade, secured the confidence of a 
large circle of customers, and having yet in store a 
large stock of vital energy, should unostentatiously 
continue commercial life that he might do good, 
refusing to further accrete for himself, and giving his 
entire margin to promote christian endeavor and to 
mitigate the miseries of humanity ! There would be 
no doubt of such an one, at the final audit of ac- 
counts, being made "ruler over many things." What 
peace would abide in his breast amid the activities of 
trade ! With what sweet satisfaction would he scan 
his balance-sheet and rejoice in the margin of gain! 
His would be no cormorant surfeiting, but a feast- 
ing on angelic food. No plethora would threaten 
him with spiritual apoplexy, but a gracious activity 
of all the generous forces of his nature would 
diffuse a warm glow of soul-health and make him 
confident of laying up imperishable treasures in the 
thief-proof storehouses of heaven. (Math, vi : 19, 21.) 
Money made for Christ and expended for his cause 
is treasure laid up in celestial vaults. Money made 



RELIGIOUS LIMITS OF ACCUMULATION. 249 

under the rowelling of avarice and uselessly laid up 
in miserly hoards is not only the insanest folly, but 
the grossest impiety. This is making Mammon 
master of the enslaved soul. It is a voluntary 
abandonment of the gracious service of God to 
become sordid and venal, consumed by a 
lust of gain. "No man can serve God 
and Mammon ; " but a consecration of money- 
making power to Christ is a lofty, sacred 
service, strewing earth's pathway with blos- 
soms, decorating the grave with immortelles, and 
yielding divine fruits on celestial shores. At the 
grave of such a man an archangel might lift the 
litany : ' ' Blessed are the dead who die in the 
Lord, for their works do follow them. " 

Indeed, all business should be entered upon and 
pursued with an eye single to the glory of God. 
"Seek first" — first in importance, first in order of 
time — "the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; 
and all these things shall be added unto you" (Math, 
vi : 33.) Religion is not to be embraced as a refuge 
at the last, but as a preparation at the first. It is 
every man's privilege to try and improve his circum- 
stances — to forecast the future with wisdom and 
provide for his rational interests in advance. Right- 
eousness is the best preparation for business pros- 
perity. It includes sobriety, prudence, frugality, 
industry and virtue — the very elements of a symmet- 
rical commercial character. Righteousness is the 
engine that draws after it the train of blessings: "all 
these things shall be added." 



250 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

It need hardly be said that the accretion of prop- 
erty for selfish and sinful ends is contrary to christian 
principle. Whenever riches are sought that the lusts 
of the flesh may be gratified, that luxurious tastes 
may be indulged, that pampered ease may be enjoy- 
ed, that time may be killed with the poinards of 
sinful pleasure, then the pursuit of wealth becomes 
a blistering, blasting curse to the soul. "Lay not 
up treasures for yourselves." "Make to yourselves 
friends of the mammon of unrighteousness ; that, 
when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting 
habitations. " (Luke xvi : 9.) 

A christian man must, therefore, seek and set out 
in life with gospel principles house-keeping in his 
heart. Then every dollar gained will be clean money, 
he will despise all over-reaching, and every mean 
artifice or "trick of trade;" then each duty will be 
met as it is presented, and each week will witness a 
faithful distribution of gain measured by the pros- 
perity with which God has crowned his current labors. 
When competency comes, then the sole ambition of 
effort will be to serve God and his generation. 

The accumulation of vast fortunes in the posses- 
sicn of a few, while moiling, toiling masses swelter in 
abject poverty, is reprobated by the equitable laws 
of sociology and the principles of Christianity. 
Wealth, or "the capacity to gratify rational desire," 
should bear equitable ratio to the industry that pro- 
duces it. Capital enjoys no prerogative that entitles 
it to so much greater deference than that which is 
paid to virtuous labor. Mammon is as gross an 



RELIGIOUS LIMITS OF ACCUMULATION. 251 

idolatry as the adoration of Baal ; and the wheels of 
capital may carry as ponderous an idol to crush the 
weak, as ever the car of Juggernaut carried. Could 
one man, inheriting the accumulated fortunes of sev- 
eral prosperous generations, by shrewd speculations 
vastly increase his riches, until he could buy a State 
and turn it into a pleasure park or a game preserve, 
would it be right to allow him thus to pervert it 
from the means of human subsistence, unto his selfish 
caprice? If a thousand operatives, "hands," are em- 
ployed in a factory, and ten capitalists own the 
buildings and machinery and power, is it according 
to the political economy of the Golden Rule that 
these favored Lords of the Loom should be allowed 
to grow inordinately rich, while the 990 should bare- 
ly subsist, and toil on hopelessly poor? Making all 
due allowance for the peril of capital, the "risk," is 
this inequality between the fortunate few and the 
miserable millions the state of society that would 
exist if the golden rule could be the sole constitution 
of society ? If the answer is negatively given, then 
there must be something wrong in the present organ- 
ization of society. If there be something wrong, it 
ought to be corrected. To say that the wrong has 
become so hoary with age, so entrenched by custom, 
so fashioned by law, that it cannot be corrected, is 
equivalent to saying that the gospel is a failure. 

But the greed of capital is largely responsible for 
the risk. In its efforts to accumulate it ventures 
beyond the limits of demand, or strains its credit 
until it fails in a crisis or panic, or is so unconcerned 



252 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

as to its dependent employes that they become 
indifferent, and shiftless, and reckless of interests 
in which they have so little common concern. The 
perils would be less were the desire for accumulation 
confined within christian limits, and were the labor- 
ers taken into a community of interest with the 
capital. No man, no corporation, can become so 
rich as to be independent of the injunction: li Look 
not every man on his own things, but every man 
also on the things of others." (Phil', ii : 4.) Society is 
reticulated in a net-work of relationships that render 
the self-centered Ego, the independent unit, impos- 
sible. ft None liveth unto himself, and none dieth 
unto himself." Christ is represented in the poor. 
To overlook and neglect them is to slight Him. 

The casuistry, on this subject, that deludes con-' 
science and lulls it to repose, is prolific in apologetics 
for selfish wealth. It is declared that the poor trifle 
at their tasks, idle away precious time, hand over to 
the till of a saloon their hard-earned wages. But 
abject poverty creates dissipation and improvidence. 
No star of hope gilds the horizon of the poor. They 
have but little chance to rise out of the circumstances 
to which they were born, and the environments in 
which they have been bred. It is becoming more 
difficult each year to escape these repressing condi- 
tions. The rapid march of monopoly, the increasing 
tyranny of capital, the rapid absorption of public 
lands, the immense facilities being afforded by mechan- 
ical inventions, the influx of emigrants, the natural 
growth of population, are adding, annually, perplex- 



RELIGIOUS LIMITS OF ACCUMULATION. 258 

ing features to the problem of life for the impover- 
ished masses. Without hope for an easier future, 
with no means to enterprise for themselves, serfs of 
selfish wealth, having feeble interest in the peace and 
prosperity of society — they are bankrupt of incentive 
to effort, and largely are outside the motives that 
faith in the future life and its states of retribution 
afford. In this hot-bed of sullen discontent or of 
grim despair, Socialism and Anarchy ferment, and 
there is spumed on society those poisonous senti- 
ments that threaten its peace, and its perpetuity in 
orderly organizations. It is a notable fact that the 
moment the anarchist gets a little ahead, owns 
something himself, he abandons his vagaries and 
becomes an orderly, peace-protecting citizen. It 
only requires a small prosperity to tranquilize the 
turbulent, but a little competency to content the 
disquieted. It is bloated fortunes in the hands of an 
insolent and imperious few, of men who have lost 
the milk of human kindness and been transmuted 
into monstrous money octopuses, whose slimy arms 
are extended in every direction to draw to their 
covetous embrace the hopeless victims of their 
power, that create the discontent and malcontent 
of society. It is apparent that Agur's prayer fur- 
nishes the key to the solution, "Give me neither 
riches nor poverty," and suggests the moral limit of 
accumulation. On the top of the world's ease and at 
the bottom of human circumstances we find the 
extremes of dissipation and vice. To bound accu- 
mulation and to diminish poverty are two conditions 



254 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

for the improvement of society. No mere agrari- 
anism is competent to this equitable adjustment. 
Industry and providence should always reap their 
reward. Natural endowments and acquired skill 
must have their incentives and compensations. What 
is needed is that christian principle should be intro- 
duced as the leaven of society. Men must become 
instinct with the feeling of brotherhood. Fraud, as 
the malaria of business, must be dissipated. Gam- 
bling in futures must be placed alongside with ventures 
at roulette tables. Successful men must be generous 
and helpful to their less fortunate competitors in the 
race of life, and hold their gains and employ their 
talents for their Father-God and their brother-man. 

One of the injurious effects attending unlimited 
accumulation is the undue use of business credit. 
How far may a christian man extend his credit? 
There are men who " go in " to vast enterprises, with 
small or no capital, and by their ventures dazzling 
a credulous public, or beguiling the unwary by the 
use of some great name and its fair fame, put in 
peril or visit with disaster multitudes of innocent 
dupes. These "Napoleons of Finance" argue that 
they have nothing to lose and everything to gain, 
and recklessly plunge into speculations where returns 
are as uncertain as the cast of a die. ".Heads they 
win, tails they lose." Men, beguiled by their arts, 
widows and orphans plundered by their devices, find 
no difficulty in recognizing the justice that clothes 
them in a criminal garb and consigns them to peni- 
tentiary walls. But there are many, in legitimate 



RELIGIOUS LIMITS TO ACCUMULATION. 255 

business walks, who argue that one is entitled to 
employ all the credit he can command. In the use 
of credit there should be a reasonable probability, at 
least, of the safety of the risk in which it is engaged. 
A man's credit is other people's property. Losing 
credit means losing their property. ' ' Borrowing 
without the probability of paying " is criminal. In 
the sight of God it is a robbery. "Owe no man 
anything but love," is a safe rule. But there is a 
degree in which the use of credit is permissible. A 
man may desire to purchase real estate, and have his 
own capital to pay one-third cash ; he may borrow 
one-third for the second payment, mortgaging the 
property, being assured, both borrower and lender, 
that the property is worth, in any probable event, 
two-thirds of the purchase price. So a man in busi- 
ness may, wun a growing demand on his resources, 
borrow double the sum of the capital invested, 
provided he is prudent as to whom he credits, and is 
assured that, should he fail, his half — his own capi- 
tal invested — will be adequate to reimburse his 
creditors. In such a case, as a rule, having lost his 
own capital, christian equity should require that he 
make an immediate assignment for the benefit of his 
creditors, or obtain their consent to go on, after a 
thorough understanding of the causes and extent of 
his embarrassment. 

If a christian man find himself less cautious in the 
use of his credit than of his capital, there is instan- 
taneous need of a readjustment of his practice. A 
man should only take up goods and incur financial 



256 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

responsibilities when there is a moral certainty of 
paying the debt when it becomes due. It would be 
well to adopt these two rules: (i.) Never to owe 
anything without being certain that you can pay it at 
maturity. (2.) Never allow others to owe you any- 
thing that you are not able to lose without detriment 
to others whom you owe. 

The practice of preferring creditors, when a failure 
has occurred, is reprehensible. All who have loaned 
money should share equally in tfye assets. If a 
man borrows, he owes, equally, all his creditors. To 
prefer one over another is simply to say, " I will pay 
you all I can;" and to those non-preferred, "you 
can take what you can get." Such a transaction is 
down-right dishonesty — with the element in it of 
treachery. The christian must keep a "conscience 
void of offense toward all men." 

Wealth is not essential to the happiness of human 
beings. "Godliness with contentment is great gain." 
If riches were necessary to human well-being, more 
people would be allowed to obtain them. As most 
men must work for their living and can only enjoy 
the fruit of their hands, a comfortable competency 
obtained by labor is best. Prosperity ruins more 
than adversity. Paul had the golden key that 
unlocks the wards of religious tranquility when he 
said: "I have learned, in whatsoever state lam, 
therewith to be content." (Phil, iv: 11.) 

"A man's life consisteth not in the abundance 
of the things which he possesseth." (Lukexii: 15.) 

"Better is little with the fear of the Lord than 



RELIGIOUS LIMITS OF ACCUMULATION. 257 

great treasure and trouble therewith. "(Prov. xv: 16.) 
Some one has said, ' ' God has shown his contempt 
for money by the kind of people to whom he has 
given it." It must be conceded that many who have 
riches have fallen into the snare of Satan, and have, 
by trusting in "uncertain riches," become ungodly 
and unhumanly; but sometimes the possession of 
wealth is evidence that a man has worked well and 
been frugal, and not, necessarily, that he has been 
stingy and mean. Yet, not every hard-working man, 
planning well, has been successful. Men who have 
been industrious and sober, and economical, and just 
and generous, and who. deserve to succeed, have 
failed of a fortune and barely had the necessaries of 
life. Success is not always a measure of merit. 

Employment is a great safe-guard. The impera- 
tive necessity of labor is the grandest conservator of 
private and public morals. Nations and individuals 
have been demoralized by wealth, and sunk to ruin. 
Democracies and Republics have yielded to the insid- 
ious wiles of money, and been supplanted by cruel 
aristocracies in which all of personal liberty perished. 
It has made the humble citizen haughty, and turned 
the patriot into a proud oppressor of his country- 
men. It has rattled bribes in the ear of legislative 
cupidity, and filled the statute books with purchased 
laws and franchises. It has corrupted the soldier 
until he has sold his sword to the foes of his banner, 
or turned the loyalist into a conspirator and a rebel. 
Nations are never in peril so great as when 
increasing in wealth and vaunting their military power. 



258 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

Who that has not witnessed the sad transformation 
of character under the baneful influence of suddenly 
acquired wealth ? It has made the amiable ugly, the 
patient irascible, the lowly proud, the modest sup- 
ercilious, the simple haughty, the gentle savage, the 
sober drunken, the chaste debauched, the Godly 
devilish. "The love of money is the root of all 
evil." For money the thief steals, the dishonest 
defraud, the assassin murders, the liquor-seller vends 
" distilled damnation," beauty trades away its virtue, 
and cruelty tightens the screws of its racks. Woe 
to the heart that is once snared by this fatal lure — 
the lust of gold ! The idolatry of money is debasing. 
The world's work has been done by its poor and 
patient toilers. The men who have climbed highest 
and cut their names in the rock forever, have been 
the sons of poverty. Genius is almost a synonym 
for struggle. "Prosperity is a more refined and 
severe test of character than adversity, as one hour 
of summer sunshine produces greater corruption than 
the longest winter day." [Eliza Cook.*) 

The body performs its functions best when exer- 
cised as labor requires. The goad of necessity prods 
men to the very efforts essential to health. The 
mind enlarges as strong thought and close calculation 
are made imperative. "Necessity is the mother of 
invention." Inherited fortune is oftenest the bane 
of children. Men struggle for fortune and stint to 
save, only, in most instances, to provide the condi- 
tions that doom their children. Money slips through 
their undeft fingers, tempters wait and set snares on 



RELIGIOUS LIMITS OF ACCUMULATION. 259 

their flowery path, and, finally, undisciplined by 
early habits of industry and frugality, enervated by 
dissipation and luxury, rifled of their patrimony, 
they sink to premature death and often to a 
pauper's grave. 

How many men there are who have " disquieted 
themselves in vain and heaped up riches, knowing 
not who should gather them ! " Multitudes who have 
been scant in providing for their personal comfort, 
callous and close in answering the calls of benevo- 
lence, and sordid in meeting the claims of religion, 
have simply been laying up for the saloon on the 
corner, or the painted Cyprian of the dance-house. 
Children quarrel over estates and are alienated each 
from the other, and the family dissolves into 
hostile elements. 

That wealth within rational limits may be used to 
educate minds, refine manners and even improve 
morals, we do not wish to deny ; that it may, with- 
out sin, be used to a certain extent in what are called 
the elegancies of life, we will cheerfully admit; but 
whenever it is pursued, obtained, held and used for 
a purely selfish aim and end, the pursuit, possession 
and use are sinful. It is vain to affirm that costly 
luxuries give employment to the poor, when the 
motive is simply selfish enjoyment. The needy 
artisan may get an incidental benefit out of it ; but 
He who is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of 
the heart will score nothing to the credit of the 
selfish employer. Expensive luxuries, enjoyed by 
the Christless rich, are sinful, when to defray the cost 



260 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

of them charity is withheld from the poor, education 
from the ignorant, reformative agencies from the 
criminal, recovering instrumentalities from the out- 
cast, and the gospel from the unsaved at home and 
the heathen abroad. Wealth employed in increasing 
mental and moral culture in the community, pro- 
moting the popular.taste and refinement by art acade- 
mies, public parks and free music, adding to artisan 
skill by industrial schools, sending the gospel to 
Pagan lands and with it all the blessings of civiliza- 
tion, is worthily employed, and will make its 
possessor rich "toward God" and rich in the affec- 
tions of his fellow men. 

No one but a silly agrarian can or does object to 
wealth honestly acquired and rightly used for the 
benefit of the society that has made its acquisition 
and safety possible. As a rule, great fortunes are 
not made by the employment of the personal powers 
of those who possess them; but are the "unearned 
increment," resultant from the progress of society in 
general, and the growth of population creating 
demand. Who will not say that the interest on that 
wealth, created in consequence of the rise in values 
by the progress of society, shall not be dedicated to 
the best interests of those who were instrumental in 
making the conditions of its creation, and who 
conspire to give security to the principal ! 

Civil society claims the right to demand its share 
for popular education and benevolence, for streets, 
highways, parks and common security against fire. 
In some countries it levies its assessments for the 



RELIGIOUS LIMITS OF ACCUMULATION. 261 

cost of religion. Everywhere in Christendom there 
is a recognized demand for more than the state calls 
for, that a larger benevolence than it exercises may 
be dispensed, and that the enterprises of philan- 
thropy and of religion may be promoted abroad. 
Christianity, more fully by its general spirit than by 
its specific precepts, fixes a moral limit to accumula- 
tion, not that idleness may ensue, but that good 
may be done. The question has so much of relativity 
attached to it, that it would be vain to try and fix 
that limit numerically. Let every man be persuaded 
in his own mind, regarding himself as owned by God 
and to be used for His glory. Realizing his steward- 
ship and the accountability it entails, the individual 
christian cannot find it difficult to establish bound- 
aries, refusing to acquire further for personal ends, 
and working hand and brain and heart to win wealth 
for God and humanity. 

It is strange that no more business men, after 
accumulating enough for their families, devote all 
their skill and energy to making money for christian 
uses. Skill to make money is a gift from God and 
should be used for the cause of Christ. Where is 
the merchant that drives his business for the sole 
purpose of helping to convert the world? Where is 
the manufacturer that runs his mill solely for Christ ? 
Where is the farmer that sows his fields on purpose 
to give to save men ? Christians retire from business 
because they have won a fortune. Ought they not 
to go on accumulating and consecrate the fruits to 
Christ? What right have we to hide our talents for 



262 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

money-making in a napkin ? God gave them for use, 
to be used for him and his cause; and we sin when 
we use them solely for self, and retire in idleness, 
and. neglect to use them at all. 

Some christians ought to become rich, They can 
use wealth to accumulate wealth. It is mere cant to 
object to large fortunes. There is no more sin in 
having two millions than there is in being the pos- 
sessor of the widow's two mites. It is not the 
amount, but the use, that settles the moral question. 
Capital is needed to make money ; and it is pre- 
eminently christian to gather the capital, reap the 
advantages and consecrate it all to Christ. The man 
whose skill enables him to win millions, may do it all 
for Christ as well as a poor man can honor his God 
by giving his pittance. The time and method of 
giving are left to each christian to decide for himself. 
If he can do more by investing as capital than by 
giving as he gets, he ought to do so. The great 
danger of becoming covetous and stingy should 
always be considered. The only safe course is to 
give liberally while accumulating. If we are incap- 
able of doing this, we are quite sure to fail either in 
accumulating or in benevolence. He is not a skillful 
business man who cannot make money and give 
liberally at the same time. He is a very poor chris- 
tian who can consent to give stingily while intending 
in the future to be liberal. He deceives himself 
both as to his present piety and his future generosity. 
Yet if he has the talent to do present duty and add 
to his capital so as to do far more in the future, he 



RELIGIOUS LIMITS OF ACCUMULATION. 263 

not only may but he ought to use it to gather 
wealth, increase income, and devote all to the world's 
conversion. 

' ' This is a money-making age, and to an unprece- 
dented extent a christian-giving age. But the giving 
lags far behind the making. Luxury spends more 
than Christianity permits, and spirituality suffers. 
Wealth, according to our use of it, is a means of 
grace or of spiritual paralysis. If christians fail to 
increase their payings they will decrease their pray- 
ings. The influx of wealth will promote piety if we 
use it for Christ, but it will breed infidelity if we use 
it for self." (Rev, Geo. H. Ball t D. D.) 

Men cannot secure happiness by mere accumulation. 
With the end in view of doing good with the money 
as it is made, a felicity-making motive is put into the 
business. Mere money-making is like drinking brine, 
the more one drinks the thirstier he gets. " He that 
loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver ; nor he 
that loveth abundance with increase." (Ec. v: 10.) 
If a man would be his own executor he would oftener 
attain the aim of his benevolence than leaving it to 
be applied by others after death. Many a will has 
been broken by covetous and dissatisfied heirs. 

Here are some suggestive quotations : 

"Posthumous charities, and wills to accomplish 
them, are not scriptural devices of benevolence. In 
the absence of other evidence the presumption which 
rests on the face of each bequest is, that they minis- 
tered to selfishness while the owner could live, and 
were designed to serve motives of vanity when he 



264 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

was obliged to die. Moreover, when there is always 
around a man of wealth flocks of impecunious per- 
sons as selfish as he, and with some color of claim 
upon his property, these wills, oftentimes, fail to 
accomplish more than causing a scramble discredita- 
ble to the dead and disgraceful to the living. The 
great lawyer, Mr. Tilden, was not wise enough to 
make a will in which his nephews cannot find flaws 
enough to lead them to contest it. A notable case 
is that of the attempt to overthrow the will of Mr. 
DePauw, who left several millions of dollars to the 
university that bears his name at Greencastle, Ind. 
The New York Court of Appeals declared invalid 
the benevolent bequests of Mr. Samuel Willets, a 
careful business man who left an estate of several 
millions, through a will drawn up by a lawyer of 
excellent reputation. The moral of all of which is: 
Do what you ought to do before you die. In this 
post-mortem benevolence there is too much of a sort 
of future probation twist to make it a reliable method 
of doing good. David served his own generation 
after the will of God, and then fell asleep. 

"It is a shame for rich christian men to be like 
Christmas boxes that receive all, and nothing can be 
got out of them till they are broken in pieces." {Dr. 
John Hall) 

1 ' Those who defer their gifts to their death-bed do 
as good as to say: 'Lord, I will give thee something 
when I can keep it no longer.' Happy is the man 
who is his own executor." (Bishop Hall.) 



RELIGIOUS LIMITS OF ACCUMULATION. 265 

Dr. Young (of "Night Thoughts") having given 
a thousand pounds to the Society for the Propaga- 
tion of the Gospel, said : "That if he had postponed 
giving it until his death, he would have been giving 
away his son's money." He was right. It would 
also have been like the man on the street-cars, who 
occupies a seat until he arrives at the end of his 
journey, and then, when he has no title to it, offers 
it to some one else. 

" It is a degrading thing to enjoy husks till there 
is no man to give them to. It is a base thing to 
resolve to give God as little as possible, and not serve 
him till you must." (F. W. Robinson.) 

"No amount of wealth sets one free from the 
obligation to work in a world, the God of which is 
ever working. He who works not has not yet dis- 
covered what God made him for, and is a false note 
in the orchestra of the universe." (MacDonald.) 

Continuing to work after prosperity has come, and 
not for further hoarding, but for God, will protect 
from the perils into which so many fall late in life. 
Says Dr. South: " Nothing will more effectually 
betray the heart into a love of sin, and a loathing of 
holiness, than an ill-managed prosperity. It is like 
some meats, the more luscious, so much the more 
dangerous. Prosperity and ease upon an unsanctified, 
impure heart, is like the sunbeam upon a muck-heap ; 
it raises many filthy, noisome exhalations. The same 
soldiers who, in hard service, and in the battle, are 
in perfect subjection to their leaders, in peace and 
luxury are apt to mutiny and rebel. That corrupt 



266 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

affection that has lain as it were dead and frozen in 
the midst of distracting business or under adversity, 
when the sun of prosperity has shined upon it, then, 
like a snake, it presently recovers its former strength 
and venom. Vice must be caressed and smiled upon 
that it may thrive and sting. It is starved by pov- 
erty, it droops under the frowns of fortune, and 
pines away upon bread and water. But when the 
channels of plenty run high, and every appetite is 
plied with abundance and variety — so that satisfac- 
tion is but a mean word to express its enjoyment — 
then the inbred corruption of the heart shows itself 
pampered and insolent, too unruly for discipline and 
too big for correction." 

A millionaire without generosity, without philan- 
thropy, still scheming for self, is but the statue of 
Apollo holding the lyre and bow and arrows ; but 
his lyre never charms, and his arrows fly to no 
noble game. 

It was a sublime consecration that made Paul 
exclaim: "For me to live is Christ." Not less 
sublime is that consecration of a successful business 
man who works for Christ by making money for His 
cause, when by selfish indulgence he might swell his 
fortunes to greater dimensions, or retire to live in a 
supine and luxurious ease. 

If the principles we have stated be correct, far 
better would it be to project life's scheme on the 
principle "live and let live." Then each day could 
be filled with engagements that would dispel the 
ennui of indolent existence, and, closing down his 



RELIGIOUS LIMITS OF ACCUMULATION. 267 

cares with the leaf of his ledger, go with buoyant step 
and bounding heart to an evening of home delights 
and of rational recreation : 

" Then the night would be filled with music, 
And the cares that infest the day 
Would fold their tent like the Arab, 
And silently steal away." 

A man who does not come to years with a stock 
of precious memories, and a store of pleasant 
thoughts, the product of previous fellowships and 
generous deeds, and liberal reading of enriching 
books, if emancipated from business necessities, will 
find but little to enjoy. Time will hang heavily on his 
hands, and life's sun will sink, curtained with clouds, 
and no stars will twinkle in the twilight sky. The 
old man who has never given his youth and prime 
leisure to learn and love, cannot breed a habit at the 
last that was never formed at the first, nor encouraged 
when mind was flexible and affection fluid. Money 
can never buy the pleasures of the mind, nor coax 
the shy goddess of love to kiss the wrinkles of age. 

So swiftly are the wheels of business driven in this 
bustling age, that few men of affairs will spend the 
time to examine the claims of the charities that 
solicit them. Unblushing mendicancy and charla- 
tan charity bank on this value of time, and much 
money is worse than wasted. Men of known liber- 
ality are "run in upon" in business hours; and 
rather than spare the time to listen and learn, a sum 
of money is given, and the successful supplicant 
"laughs in his sleeve" at the supposed credulity of 
these rich dupes. Such a habit of giving cultivates 



268 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

no spirit of charity, softens no heart, and tends to 
make benevolence a bore. Even charity which is 
more deliberate acts through a proxy, or the gener- 
ous stand their assessments with equanimity, and all 
that ought to be made the architect of character is 
delegated to the chosen clergymen, or relegated to 
the sympathetic wife. Thus, by degrees, the heart 
that should be a temple is transformed into a bank 
vault, and finally the nature that ought to be as holy 
as a shrine becomes as mechanical -as a combination 
lock. We are writing for christian men. We are 
trying to read into them the true principles that 
should mould immortal character and stamp it with 
the mintage of heaven. And so that our task may be 
faithfully performed, we say that the genius of Chris- 
tianity protests against all ambition for wealth that 
has its incentives rooted in selfish pride, luxurious 
ease, and the endowment of children with fortunes that 
will make them independent of toil and sacrifice, and 
will encourage them to a haughty disdain of the poor 
and a supercilious rejection of religion. Money is a 
divine trust. It must be made in accordance with 
the principles of Christ, and held and dispensed 
under a devout and filial fear of God ; else every dol- 
lar will become like a glowing cinder of hell to eat 
the flesh like fire, and glower on the path of an eternal 
doom. The rational and religious way, therefore, is 
to regard business as a trust, health as a factor of 
power, current benevolence as a duty, recreation as a 
conservator of life-force, and right deeds, nobly done, 
as character creators and happiness producers. 



RELIGIOUS LIMITS OF ACCUMULATION. 269 

" Teach us, O Lord, to keep in view 
Thy pattern, and thy steps pursue ; 
Let alms bestowed, let kindness done, 
Be witnessed by each rolling sun ; 
For, he who marks from day to day, 
L. generous acts his radiant way, 
Treads the same path the Savior trod, 
The path to glory and to God." 



270 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 



CHAPTER XIV. 
THE CRY AND CALL. 

I. THE CRY. 

There is a sob of sorrow and a prayer for pity on 
the air. It has reached the ears oi the Lord God of 
Sabaoth. It is ringing an alarm-bell in the ears of 
the selfish rich, and if it is not heeded it will toll 
their knell. ''The burden of Dumah. He calleth 
to me out of Seir, Watchman, what of the night? 
What of the night 7" To millions there is night; to 
many it is starless ; to all it is stormy. There is need 
to get "The Three Fishes," ' 'The Song of the Shirt," 
"The Bridge of Sighs," "The Cry of the Children," 
into our hymn books. "One half the world does 
not know how the other half lives." But they 
ought to know. They ought to help it. The cause 
they know not they should search out. 

"Blessed is the man that consida-eth the poor." Have 
you ever considered the poor — fixed your mind on 
them to examine their pitiable condition ? If not, 
do so now. We will try and help you to considera- 
tion with a few startling facts: A cry that comes 
from the slums is pressed out by environment. 
Herds and flocks, birds and squirrels have free 
warren in field and forest. They have plenty of 
good fresh air and pure water and "food convenient." 



THE CRY AND CALL. 271 

The ant, forcasting the winter, provides its meat in 
summer, the bee its bread, the squirrel its store of 
nuts; instinct carries the migratory bird to a genial 
climate and a liberal commissariat, and the ox know- 
eth its master's crib. The young ravens do not cry 
in vain, and sparrows are cared for by Providence 
and ceaselessly twitter their psalm of praise. Only 
man is put on beggarly allowance of air, light, water 
and fuel. Humanity is crowded into filthy tenements 
and infected airs, where health is undermined, de- 
cency is outraged and vice is contagious. They pay 
rack-rent to grasping landlords, and vegetate in 
pestilential atmospheres. They swelter in stuffy apart- 
ments in summer, and shiver in frosty airs in winter. 
Children grow up familiar with profanity and obscen- 
ity and know no more of the purities of speech than 
hogs do of Turkish baths. Family seclusion is im- 
possible and the promiscuous exposures of the sexes 
banish the blush of shame. They nurse the breast 
of inebriety, and beer is the common drink. They 
"rush the growler; " and amid debauch of speech 
and drink are strangers to all the sweet amenities of 
life. God designed to set the solitary in families, 
but these wretched creatures herd and swarm where 
home is a word of mockery and a den of misery. 
Home, the foundation of the family and the state, is 
overthrown. Little children with soft muscle and 
gristle instead of bones, are hurried away to the 
factory, for so small is the wage that to exist all 
must work. The slaughter of the innocents goes on, 
and despotism that would outrival the Herodian 



272 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

massacre goes on, with scarcely a protest. Ostrich 
nurture takes the place of maternal care. "Men 
must work and women must weep," and a sigh and 
sob like the moan of the sea escape the surging, 
seething mass. Statistics show the average united 
income of families, all at work, below the cost of 
the bare necessities of life. Half-starved bodies drag 
weary limbs to the work-shops, and a fearful death- 
rate appals philanthropy. The poor, compelled to 
buy in small quantities, pay much more for their sub- 
sistence than the rich — a dollar more on each ton of 
anthracite, on each barrel of flour. Land monopoly 
goes on; lots are worth $1,000 a foot, and to render 
living in cities possible to the poor, huge tenements 
rise even fourteen stories high. America is fast 
approaching the condition of the British Isles, where 
four- fifths of the soil is owned by 5,000 landlords 
and nearly one-half by 1,000. In Scotland, more 
than one-fourth of the entire area is owned by 
twenty-one lords, nearly one-half by forty-nine, and 
more than three-fourths by 583 persons. One land- 
ed proprietor owns as much of the country as three 
millions of people. We are suffering foreign syndi- 
cates to buy up our country, our railroads, mines 
and manufacturing industries. Under a shameful 
monopoly, resulting largely from laws of entail, one- 
fifth of the population of the British Isles are with- 
out a sufficiency of food to fitly preserve life and 
conserve health. "The earth is the Lord's, and the 
fullness thereof," but the lords are the king-made 
nobles and not the Lord of hosts. Then the pos- 



THE CRY AND CALL. 273 

sessive sign is gone — it is no longer the Lord's, but 
the lords'. The ciy is a call to halt. The martyrs 
are crying from beneath the altar : ' ' How long, O 
Lord ! Hoiu long? '' An Augean stable cries for cleans- 
ing. What Hercules will turn the Peneus on this 
mighty treasury of wrong ? 

In one of his cynical moods Carlyle hissed in the 
ear of one of our boasting countrymen : ' ' Ye may 
boast o' yer democracy, but the reason why yer 
laboring folk are so happy is thot ye have a vost deal 
o' land for a very few people." This land is rapidly 
passing into the hands of the few. An English 
syndicate owns 300,000 acres about Cumberland 
Gap, and is reaching out Briarian hands — aye, the 
tentacles of an octopus, to grasp all in sight from the 
pinnacle seen by the most powerful field-glasses. 
Railroad corporations have subsidized millions of 
acres of arable lands and lumber forests. The public 
domain is diminishing. Added to other causes, such 
as machine farming, the difficulty of securing home- 
steads is driving population into the cities, and this 
is raising city lots to fabulous values. To say there is 
no help for all this, is to put right on the scaffold and 
wrong on the throne. It is to make the golden rule 
a mockery and Christ an idle dreamer. We cannot 
baptize monopoly and take it into the church. The 
cry is for excommunication. There are many cursed 
from their mother's womb and father's loins. Be- 
gotten in drunkenness or tainted with the virus of 
licentiousness. The fathers have eaten sour grapes 
and the children's teeth are set on edge. They are 



274 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

handicapped at the start and bear weight in life to 
the bitter end. Their parents lived under conditions 
tending to the deterioration of their offspring. The 
children heir, congenitally, diseases, and carry a cor- 
rupted diathesis to their graves. In turn they trans- 
mit taints. The fish of the Mammoth Cave are born 
and bred in darkness and hence are blind. Moles 
burrowing in the earth lose their eyes. The hermit 
crab, expelling the whelk, loses its power to make 
for itself an armoring shell. Imprisoned birds lose 
all buoyancy and float of wing. Canaries caged with 
twittering wrens forget how to sing. Greyhounds 
confined to the kennel and denied the chase lose 
their scent. Hermit monks forfeit the social instinct. 
Persistent morbid conditions impair faculty and force. 
The only way the deterioratory tendencies of corrupt 
heredity and vicious environment can be overcome, is 
to condition the victims, by placing them under 
influences adverse to those that superinduced them. 
Darwin and Herbert Spencer show how favoring 
external conditionings may largely " change func- 
tions which, in their tunv modify the organ which 
becomes permanent and fixed in the race through 
heredity." The principle must be applied to educa- 
tion and reformatories instituted to cultivate habits 
that will ' ' change the stamp of nature and cast the 
devil out with wondrous potency." It is not given 
to us to " cast out devils " by miraculous agencies as 
Christ and the apostles did, but we may do greater 
works than they. We may rescue the perishing by 
education. We can establish and endow Houses of 



THE CRY AND CALL. 



275 



Refuge for congenital criminals, and by moral teach- 
ing and religious environment, healthy diet, devel- 
oping industry and exorcising, corraling from the 
influence of strong drink and vicious example, so 
transform the wretched waifs as to save them from 
the penitentiary and brothel and make men and 
women of them. We can prevent by restrictive laws 
consanguineous marriages, from which proceed so 
many of the bodily deformities, distorted features, 
impaired senses and imbecile minds. We can sup- 
press the liquor traffic and lay embargoes on the 
social evil, two prime sources of hereditary imbecility 
and idiosyncrasy. We can supply proper food, 
wholesome water and pure air, and abolish the cor- 
rupting tenement-house system. We can break up 
the gambling dens and outlaw ^orse-racing, vast 
seminaries of vice — colleges of Satan. We can seek 
the children of the vile and bring then into our Sabbath 
schools, and in these nurseries of piety do much to 
counteract the evil influences of home and pernicious 
example, and "bring them up in the nurture and 
admonition of the Lord." We may invade the dens 
of iniquity with gospel antiseptics, and disinfect 
them of the moral malaria which breeds the plague 
that destroys. Consecrated men and money can do 
much to hush the cry of woe and want that comes 
from the slums of society. "We can transmit a 
higher, haler, holier type of moral aptitudes and 
sympathies. We cannot give them piety ; that must 
be their own choice and duty. But we can render 
the choice less difficult, less repulsive. We can 



276 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

lessen the obstacles hindering the choice. We can 
propagate affinities for certain moral virtues, so that 
these unfortunate children shall learn to hate mean- 
ness, reverence truthfulness, respect others, and come 
into being with a moral soil more disposed to welcome 
into its bosom the good seed which is able to save 
the soul." (Dr, Thomas Guard.} 

The Thirteenth Annual Report of the New York 
Prison Association affords a startling example of he- 
reditary degeneration. The Juke family, of New York 
State, is descended from five sisters who lived 1720— 
1740, and reckons among its members in a little more 
than a century of adult history: Criminals, 140; 
habitual thieves, 60; prostitutes, 50; murderers, 
7; paupers, 90; years in prison, 41. These girls, 
from whom this awful line proceeded, were left 
orphans and no one cared for them. It is estimated 
that they and their serpent brood have cost the State 
of New York one hundred and eighty thousand dol- 
lars. Now, had there been laws and institutions to 
take charge of and train to habits of virtue this 
quintette of orphans, they might have been orna- 
ments instead of plagues of society. Would it not 
have been better to have taken a tithe of this cost 
to have saved them, than to expend it on their pun- 
ishment or support in alms houses ? It is pertinently 
inquired : ' ' Shall we, by example, surroundings and 
judicious training, produce generations of Fenelons, 
Franklins, Hannah Moores, Clara Bartons and Fran- 
ces Willards, or let heredity, uncontrolled, breed 



THE CRY AND CALL. 277 

families and generations of the Juke style, and bank- 
rupt humanity." (Samuel Royce.} 

* * There is a large class, I was about to say major- 
ity, of the population of New York and Brooklyn 
who just live, and to whom the rearing of two or 
more children means inevitably a boy for the peni- 
tentiary, and a girl for the brothel." (New York 
Supreme Judge, 

What are we to expect when the ratio in a single 
civil district in Chicago is 261 saloons, and only five 
churches furnishing accommodation to only 2,000 
Sunday school children ? 

Pauper elements from Europe, and Coolies 
from China, are introducing a fierce competition 
with American labor, lowering wages, raising 
taxes, increasing crime, bringing and breeding 
diseases. The suffrage is corrupted, the Sabbath 
is menaced ; the saloon, with its vast influence and 
constituency in politics, mocks at the sanctities of 
religion, defies the iron-nerved arm of civil laws, 
seats its representatives in Congress and the State 
Legislatures ; and so, the problem of peril grows, 
like a mighty wart, and will soon ciliate its roots so 
deeply and so widely in the body politic that 
neither scalpel nor cautery can remove the dread ex- 
crescence. Romanism rapidly entrenches itself at the 
centers of civilization, strikes at our public school 
system, lends aid to Sabbath desecration, and covets 
the revenues and courts the patronage of the drink- 
factories, the dram-shop and the dealer of " distilled 
damnation." Monopoly joins with brewer, distiller 



.278 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

and retail liquor dealer; and fat purses rattle their 
bribes in the eager ear of the debauched voter, the 
merchantable juryman and the professional witness. 
The Lords of the Loom, the Railroad Kings, the 
Bonanza Princes and the Coal Barons menace their 
employes, and drive their herd to the polls to make 
the ballot-box the urn of a fate more prolific of evil 
than the fabled box of Pandora. Disquieted labor- 
ers feel the pressure of congested wealth, flinch at 
the pinch of poverty, and organize a knighthood 
armed for riot and disciplined for the plunder of 
property. Glib tongues and sharp pens promote the 
transplanted dogma of socialistic Europe ; license is 
confounded with liberty ; and statesmanship stands 
aghast in the presence of forces beleaguering the Tem- 
ple of Freedom, and digging away at the foundation 
of the Republic. A black cloud of illiterate suf- 
fragists hangs over the South, and alien races stand, 
point to point, as hostile as their color is variant. 

Let patriots reflect upon the real state of society 
in this America to-day, the bribery at the polls and 
by legislative lobbies, the jobbery and " boodleism " 
of cities, the breaches of trust in corporation officers, 
the defalcation of bank cashiers, the reckless specu- 
lations so frequent in lofty and lowly places, the 
buying of juries and judges, and the many obstacles 
and obstructions that corrupt money throws down 
in the path of public justice and private rights, and 
then ask themselves how long a Republic can stand 
the pressure of such corruption of its citizenship, its 
taw-makers, and its executive and judicial agents? If 



THE CRY AND CALL. 279 

such debasing practices continue and grow, the day 
is not far distant when the Goddess of American Lib- 
erty will be transformed into the Niobe of the 
Nations, weeping over the graves of her slain children 
and bemoaning the folly of her surviving sons. 

u Woe to the land where Virtue di.es, and Passion reigns alone! 
Where Lust, sublime and deified, usurps Religion's throne; 
Where flesh and blood, mere kneaded dust, in hot ferment conspire, 
Cloud Reason's right, and Heaven's pure light, and set men's souls 
on fire. 

Woe to the age whose seers and bards, instinct with earth-born flame, 
Pervert divine philosophy to plead for swinish shame ; 
And bow the awful gift of song, Heaven's hignest chrism of fire 
Changed to afoul and reeking slave, to serve accurst desire. 

Woe to the age when gold is God, and law a solemn jest 
That helps the boldly vile to crush the noblest and the best! 
When Mammon o'er cheap millions flings his gilded harness strong, 
And drives them tame beneath his lash, down broad highways of 
wrong ; 

While Truth's shrill clarion down the sky peals faintly o'er the rout, 
And dust and fumes of earth and sin shut Heaven's last sunlight out; 
Then look for lightning ; God's red bolts must cleave the stifling gloom, 
In love or wrath, to purge the world or whelm in Sodom's doom." 

Rapid transit must be provided to take people 
where land is cheap and homes are possible. We 
must stay this absorption of our domain. We must 
domicile instead of herd the people, or the hand of 
destiny is on the rope to toll the knell of Liberty. 
We must arrest avarice. We must "ring out the 
narrowing lust of gold." 

" Ring in the valiant man and free, 
Ring in the Christ that is to be." 

The "valiant man" is coming. "Thy kingdom 
come; thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven," 
is not a vain prayer. Christ's kingdom is coming. 



280 



WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 



The night has been long, but daybreak is at hand. 
"The morning cometh." Watchman, tell it out. 
Tell the weary, waiting ones that the day star, herald 
of the rising morn, hangs twinkling in the East. 
Tell them that love may smile and hope revive, that 

" The day of the Lord is at hand, at hand ! 

Its storms roll up the sky ; 
A nation sleeps, starving on heaps of gold ; 

All dreamers toss and sigh : 
The night is darkest before the dawn- 
When the pain is sorest, the child is born, 
And the day of the Lord is at han'd." 

— CHAS. KlNGSIiEY. 

Let no heartful man despair and cry 'tis too much 
to expect — that ' ' day and custom wall up the hori- 
zon," "as though God were not." 

" I heard an eagle crying all alone 
Above the vineyard through the summer night, 
Among the skeletons of robber towers— 
The iron homes of iron-hearted lords, 
Now crumbling back to ruin year by year— 
Because the ancient eyrie of his race 
Is trenched and walled by busy-handed men, 
And all his forest-chase and woodland wild, 
Wherefrom he fed his young with hare and roe, 
Are trim with grapes, which smell from hour to hour 
And toss their golden tendrils to the sun 
For joy at their own riches :— So I thought, 
The great devourers of the earth shall sit, 
Idle and impotent, they know not why, 
Down-staring from their barren height of state, 
On nations grown too wise to slay and slave, 
The puppets of the few, while peaceful love 
And fellow-help make glad the heart of earth. 
With wonders which they fear and hate, as 
The eagle hates the vineyard slopes below." 

— KrNGSLEY. 

Cities have become what Dr. Strong, in "Our 
Country," so aptly calls "storm centers." We can 



THE CRY AND CALL. 281 

no longer boast, as in ante-bellum Fourth of July ora- 
tions, of not having a standing army. The metro- 
politan police differ in no respect from the gens 
d'armce, the National Guard from the Grenadiers, or 
Horse Guards. Socialistic riots, like that of the 
Haymarket, in Chicago ; labor riots, like that in 
Pittsburgh ; court-house riots, like that in Cincinnati ; 
draft riots, like that in New York, show that we have 
among us the same restless elements that keep 
Europe on the watch-tower and threaten the tenure 
of monarchy. Two Presidents have fallen at the 
hands of assassins, and Judges of the Supreme Court 
have been shot down for opinions adverse to appel- 
lants. Highwaymen rob trains and rifle banks in 
broad daylight. Our Jesse James' surpass the Dick 
Turpins and Robin Hoods of historical romance. 
Tramps infest the country quite as malignant as the 
banditti of Italy. Chinese " High-Binders " repeat 
the crimes of Indian thugs. Mormonism curses a 
Territory with polygamy, and a ''meadow massacre'* 
proves them as malignant as the monks of the lava 
beds. Apaches and Comanches prowl on our 
western frontier. Congressmen turn the Represent- 
ative Hall into a pugilistic arena, and a whole State 
is victimized by the larceny of a lottery. Read- 
justee and repudiators triumph in politics. Ku-klux 
and White-caps terrorize neighborhoods. Lynch 
law executes summary justice. Napoleons of finance 
filch the good name of the illustrious under cover of 
which to steal banks. Option in grain gives the 
semblance of respectability to wholesale gambling, 



282 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

stocks are watered, and ' ' trusts " are formed to keep 
prices up and wages down. Traps are set for the 
unwary under the guise of " deals," and the Wall- 
street robber under the shadow of Trinity church 
steeple scoops millions into his pouch, lives in luxury, 
fattens on blood-money, and puts up bars to ward off 
orphans and widows lest they disturb his sleep. Is 
it not time to ' 'ring out, wild bells" until their clangor 
rouses from the dread apathy the sleeping virtue of 
the Republic. Amid all this distress, unmoved by 
the piteous cry which ought to make a heart of ada- 
mant melt, and a statue of Medusa weep, vast 
fortunes are accumulated by over-reaching and finan- 
cial snares; and the Guards of Liberty sleep on the 
crust of a crater, thin as a wafer, beneath which a 
sea of fire surges, ready to break with sudden vol- 
canic vengeance to whelm in its rivers of lava the 
last vestige of Republican Freedom. Preachers of 
righteousness tell of the impending ruin as they 
build the ark of safety for themselves and families in 
the shipyards, but the optimistic infidels drown their 
arguments with shouts of derision, laugh them to 
scorn with sneers, and flatter themselves that the 
prophets are as false as if trained in Hell and com- 
missioned by the Devil. Just preceding the erup- 
tion of Vesuvius, which entombed the twin cities of 
Herculaneum and Pompeii, the Augurs threaded the 
thronged streets and admonished the gay revelers of 
the threatening mountain. But they sang their 
roundelays, spurred with stimulants the jaded appe- 
tites and passions to artificial zeal, dubbed the Cas- 



THE CRY AND CALL. 283 

sandras of evil report "alarmists," and with idiotic 
laughter of derision, cajoled themselves with the 
illusion of infatuated minds that after them the ruin 
would fall. And while shouting "on with the dance, 
let joy be unconfined," and swirling in the waltz of 
death, the pent-up, stifled vengeance of years broke 
the hollow truce of the silent and sleeping crater, 
and vomited forth a deluge of destroying fire and 
rivers of molten lava. On the eve of the fateful 
battle of Waterloo, in Belgium's giddy capital, there 
was a blaze of festal lights and a "sound of revelry 
by night," and the tinseled chieftains that on the 
morrow would bite the dust, victims of the awful 
holocaust of battle, coquetted with jeweled Duch- 
esses and bedizened belles. Under similar infatua- 
tions of folly may not the American people be 
boasting of liberty, unheeding the Augurs prophe- 
sying the peril, while forges and anvils are welding 
the chains of political slavery? "To be forewarn- 
ed is to be forearmed." To discern the shadows 
of coming events is to oil the lamps that should be 
lifted to shed a saving light on the englooming path 
of liberty. Shall we heed the Jeremiahs and Cassan- 
dras, vocal with serious warning; or continue to hug 
the fatal delusion of immunity from danger until the 
storm breaks with cyclonic fury on the country ? The 
clenched fist of legalized avarice must open and 
empty its bloated purse to dispel the gloom. Des- 
potic wealth must calculate the power of dynamite in 
the hands of the infuriated mob. The maddened 
wage-worker, won to socialistic iconoclasm, is equal 



284 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

to a platoon of police. The brand and kerosene 
threaten our commercial capitals with wholesale 
arson. Men crazed with hunger and inflamed with 
drink will be deaf to reason if we wait for the burst- 
ing of the storm-reek, which hangs over our cities 
like a pall. Awakened conscience must answer the 
cry of the outcast, the wail of the wretched, the 
despair of poverty. We must educate ballots, or 
thinking rifles will respond with bullets. To build 
the muniments of protection, we must home the peo- 
ple. We must air the miasmatic tenements with tonic 
ozone, or a pestilence more destructive than the 
plague that stalks at midnight and wastes at noon- 
day, will lay low our best beloved. We must feed 
the hungry, or the cry of "blood or bread" will 
boom like sudden thunder from the troubled sky. 
We must clear the senate of the money-kings, the 
polls of panders, the Chambers of Commerce of 
gambling brokers, the mines of the fire-damp of 
monopoly, the street corners of man-traps, the bagn- 
ios of painted courtesans, the churches of white- 
washed hypocrites, the pulpit of cowardly preachers, 
the territories of polygamous iniquity, the lumber 
camps of harlot Delilahs, the courts of perverted 
justice and bribed judges and juries, the land of cal- 
lous landlords, the shops of conspiring socialists, the 
statute books of family-destroying divorce laws, the 
school of Jesuitical pragmatism, the caucus of wire- 
pulling demagogues, the voting places of bull-dozing 
partisans, or Ichabod is written on the forehead of 
the genius of liberty. Selfish wealth needs to trem- 



THE CRY AND CALL. 285 

ble in its templed strongholds, for an enemy is at the 
gates fiercer than the vandals that sacked "the eter- 
nal city." 

The picture drawn is a dark one. Rembrandt, 
not Claude, is the painter. 

"Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, 
When wealth accumulates and men decay." 

But thank God there are brighter pigments. They 
enter into the pictures of hope painted by that great- 
est maestro — Love. The gospel is competent to 
work the transformation of society needed. It will 
keep its promise to the world ; and yet, we believe, 
the angel choristers will wheel in our sky to repeat 
the chant whose glad refrain is "On earth peace, 
good will toward men." Society can be saved. No 
mere human tinkering will mend the wrongs of 
humanity. Boast no proud heraldry of line, no 
blue of blood — "and think not to say within 
yourselves, we have Abraham to our father. " " Kind 
hearts are more than coronets." 

We must learn the lesson of brotherhood — to look 
on man as revealed in the light of the cross — his 
worth and dignity as thus expressed, and not by his 
tax-lists, and the factitious conditions set up by the 
caprice of unregenerate society. But mere conde- 
scension and patronage are not brotherhood. We 
must cease our talk of " the masses and the classes," 
and look on man simply as such, all the common 
product of one Creator, all redeemed by the same 
sacred blood of Christ. In Christ's view, no man 
was great, none medium, none small. All were 



280 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

included under sin that all might be embraced under 
grace. You can convert the worst people. Jesus' 
blood can "make the foulest clean." Here is the 
ground of hope. Here is the inspiration to benevo- 
lent work. Call the outcast of our cities ; let them 
answer with curses, with rot and rags, blear-eyed, : 
rum painted, shaky of limb, placarded all over with 
the trademarks of hell ; let them come swaggering, 
staggering in ; look on their faces furrowed with dis- 
sipation, void of veneration, soiled with the sin and 
shame of the slums, and I will confront them, saying, 
"From these stones God is able to raise up children 
unto Abraham." (Matt, iii.) He who could shine 
away the sully of the Magdalene with a pardoning 
smile; he who could, instantly, fit a dying thief for a 
companionship with himself in paradise, can as easily 
cleanse and save millions of outcasts. Believe it, 
brother, or seek the mourner's bench. Believe it 
fully, or know that you are yet in your sins. Believe 
it, and on that faith set to work, inflamed with this hope, 
impulsed with a love that springs from it, as the 
Phoenix of fable mounted from the fire of its funeral 
pyre. Tell the story. Never tire. Feel that you 
are your brother's keeper. Stop your gradation of 
men by conventional standards. Bring all to the 
measure of the cross. Whatever classifies, separates, 
alienates, antagonizes your brother-men, talk it down, 
sing it down, pray it down, vote it down, battle it 
down. Look at your Master washing his disciples' 
feet! Hear Him say: "If I, then, your Lord and 
Master, have washed your feet ; ye also ought to 



THE CRY AND CALL. 287 

wash one-another's feet. For I have given you an 
example, that ye should do as I have done to you. 
Verily, verily, I say unto you, the servant is not 
greater than his Lord ; neither he that is sent greater 
than he that sent him. If ye know these things, 
happy are ye if ye do them." 

" Think of the courage and high expectations 
concerning the future which the gospel has here 
made familiar, which is not due to our stimulating 
air, or virgin soil, or fundamentally to the blood in 
our veins. There is this expectation in American 
people of vast and peaceful progress in the future, 
because they know that the gospel of Christ never 
goes down ; that whatever that gospel touches with 
its divine benediction becomes immortal ; and that 
whatsoever in the national life is tributary to the 
furtherance of that gospel in the land and in the 
earth, has upon it the benedictionof Him who wears 
upon his head the many crowns, King of kings, and 
Lord of lords." (^. S, Storrs.) 

II. THE CALL. 

In addition to the cry of the poor and outcast of 
our own land, there is a Macedonian call : * ' Come 
over and help us. " It comes over the sea, it echoes 
from the mountains. The pagan millions con- 
cert it. You dare not turn away your ear. It pur- 
sues. The answer is alternative — Go or send ; do or 
die. Said a ship captain to a missionary: "Do you 
think you can make an impression on those stolid 
400,000, coo Chinese?" The man of faith answered: 



288 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

"No, but God can." And he will. He does. "Be 
not faithless, but believing." "All power is given 
unto me in heaven and earth." Go; as you go, 
preach ; as you preach, they will believe ; if they 
believe they will be saved. " Lo ! I am with you 
alway, even unto the end of the world" — the end of 
the earth — the end of time. The assurance is inspir- 
ing. "When duty's brow is sunlit with hope, the 
feet and heart take wing." (Dr. Herrick /o/inson.) 
"Enlarge the place of thy tent." ( "Expect great 
things of God ; do great things for God." ( Wm. Carey) 
" If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him 
that believeth." God is a majority — more than all 
that can be against him. God is marching on. 

"The royal banner forward goes. We are follow- 
ing One whose standard goes down before no onset 
because upheld by immortal hands ; and the slow and 
stately movement of centuries has in our time quick- 
ened to swift majesty of march to carry to supremacy 
the Lordship of Christ. If this is not true, the 
casual connection of fortuitous events leaves history 
the most baffling of puzzles and the ' philosophy ' of 
it a word without meaning." (Dr, R. S, Storrs.). 

Five thousand students have signed the pledge of 
the Students' Volunteer Movement for Missions, 
organized four years ago at Northfield — "We are 
willing, God permitting, to be foreign missionaries. " 
Of this number 1,750 are in college, 450 in theolog- 
ical seminaries, and about 850 in other schools. 

Would this mighty army be waiting if wealth were 
as consecrated as these students? Thirty millions of 



THE CRY AND CALL. 289 

heathen are dying annually, and yet these "willing" 
are waiting. ' ' The isles are waiting for His law " — and 
5,000 missionaries are waiting on miserly money. 
"The laborers are few," but 5,000 are waiting. Is it 
not time to display the storm signals? Millions of 
christians are praying: "Thy kingdom come," and 
5,000 educated, devout young men and women, with 
missionary fire melting the marrow in their bones, 
are Waiting ! ~^S 

There would seem to be reason for Croninshield's 
satire, when opposing a charter for the American 
Board : ' ' Foreign Mission Societies propose to 
export religion, whereas, we have none to spare at 
home." This led some one to say: "Religion is a 
commodity of which the more we export the more 
we have left." 

" Up guards and at them ! " 

" Forward ! hark ! forward's the cry ! 
One more fence and we're out on the open ! 
So to us at once, if you want to live near us— 
Follow them, hark to them, darlings ! as on they go, 
Leaping and sweeping down into the vale below ! 
Cowards and bunglers whose heart or whose eye is slow 
Find themselves staring alone. 

So the great cause flashes by, 
Nearer and clearer its purposes open, 
While louder and louder the world-echoes cheer us ; 
Gentlemen, sportsmen, you ought to live up to us, 
Lift us and lead us, and halloo our game to us— 
We cannot take the hounds off, and no shame to us— 

Don't be left staring alone." — Chas. Kingst^ey. 



290 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 



CHAPTER XV. 
THE ANSWER OF CONSCIENCE. 

To this cry and call conscience must make answer. 
The converted thief must hear and heed the injunc- 
tion: "Let him that stole steal no more." 

The extortioner must imitate the example of Zac- 
cheus when converted. 

Ananias and Sapphira, if they would escape aveng- 
ing lightning, must stop lying. Hidden treasure 
must be brought to light and laid a willing offering 
on the altar. Such a cheerful offering will ' ' sanctifiy 
the gift and the giver. " 

The church must purge itself of Achan and his 
spoils, or the wedge of gold will split it into kindling 
wood for " eternal fires." 

Ahab must not covet Naboth's vineyard any more 
than David Uriah's wife. Demas must get the world 
out of his heart. Alexander, the coppersmith, must 
turn silversmith if he would not harm apostles and 
collections. Judas must "go to his own place" and 
his blood-money to the purchase of Aceldamas for 
the decent burial of the poor. 

Mary must bring alabaster boxes of faith filled 
with the spikenard of love, and break them for the 
anointing of peasants and pariahs. Proud, domineer- 
ing landlords, "hard masters," must wash their 



THF CHAPTER OF CONSCIENCE. 291 

employes' feet. Dorcases must make needles fly in 
a holy enthusiasm to clothe the naked. Nicodemus 
must come to Jesus by day. Hypocritical Pilates 
must learn that all the waters of the sea cannot wash 
away the blood-stain on the hand of injustice. It is 
deeper and more indelible than the " damned spot" 
that would not out, on Macbeth's hand. Preeminence- 
loving Diotrephes must give over his mischief-making 
and move to the side of Demetrius, who "hath good 
report of all men and of the truth itself." The tepid 
Laodiceans must warm to the work. 

Wicked rich men who will not contribute and min- 
ister and do justly must be taught not only to fear 
the wrath of outraged men, but the vengeance of an 
insulted God. The watchman must read them the 
riot act: "Go to now, ye rich men, weep and 
howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. 

"Your riches are corrupted, and your garments 
are motheaten. 

' ' Your gold and silver is cankered ; and the rust 
of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat 
your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasures 
together for the last days. 

' * Behold, the hire of the laborers who have reaped 
down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, 
crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are 
entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. 

"Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and 
been wanton ; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a 
day of slaughter. 



292 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

"Ye have condemned and killed the just ; and he 
doth not resist you. 

" Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming 
of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth" for 
the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience 
for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. 

"Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the 
coming of the Lord draweth nigh. 

"Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye 
be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before 
the door. 

"Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have 
spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of 
suffering affliction, and of patience. 

"Behold, we count them happy which endure. 
Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen 
the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, 
and of tender mercy." (James v: i-ii.) 

"Conscience distasteful truths may tell, 
But mark her sacred dictates well ; 
Whoever with her lives at strife, 
Loses his better friend for life." 

Let the "blood of Christ" "purge your con- 
science from dead works to serve the living God." 
(Heb. ix: 14.) 

Beware of the choking power of "the deceitful- 
ness of riches." Pray: 

" What in me is dark, 
Illumine ; what is low, raise and support." 

"Think what it will be for a man to sit surrounded 
by the ghosts of his own sins ! And as each forgot- 
ten fault and buried badness comes, silent and 



THE ANSWER OF CONSCIENCE. 293 

sheeted, into that awful society and sits down there, 
think of his greeting each with the question: 'Thou 
too? What! are ye all here? Hast thou found me, 
O mine enemy ? ' And from each bloodless, spectral 
lip there tolls out the answer, the knell of his life : 
' I have found thee, because thou hast sold thyself to 
work evil in the sight of the Lord. ' ' '* Good Lord, 
deliver us!" Jesus Christ, homeless, without a 
place to lay his head, is begging for shelter and a 
pillow. Thousands rioting in luxury and crowned 
with plenty are turning him away without a crust of 
bread or a "cup of cold water." If the curse 
rested on the wandering Jew for having refused 
hospitality to Christ, how many Salathiels would be 
doomed to a peccant immortality— wishing to die 
and seeking it of poison, plague and poniard, with- 
out securing the coveted boon? Jesus, now, as 
when in the days of mortal flesh, pours out strong 
cries and tears, and feels afresh the anguish of his 
sorrowing people. He now, as then, comes unto his 
own, and his own receive him not. Christ is reject- 
ed every time unpitying wealth refuses the innocent 
poor the boon they ask. It were bad enough to 
turn a deaf ear to the plea of the brother in need; 
but when, by this divine law of substitution, the 
divine Redeemer is slighted in his representative 
sufferers, the offense rises to the height of a colossal 
crime. "He that receiveth you receiveth me, and 
he that receiveth me receiveth Him that sent me. . 
And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these 
little ones a cup of cold water only, in the name of a 



294 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

disciple, he shall in no wise lose his reward." (Matt. 
x:42, 44). . . "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto 
one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done 
it unto me," and the antithesis. (Matt, xxv: 34-46.) 

" A poor wayfaring man of grief 

Hath often met me on my way, 
Who sued so humbly for relief 

That I could never say him nay • 
I had not power to ask his name, 
Whither he went, or whence he came ; 
Yet there was sometning in his eye 
That won my love— I know not why. 

"Once, when my scanty meal was spread, 

He entered— not a word he s pake- 
Just perishing for want of bread. 

I gave him all ; he blessed it, brake, 
And ate, but gave me part again : 
Mine was an angel's portion then, 
And while I fed with eager haste, 
The crust was manna to my taste. 

" I spied him where a fountain burst 

Clear from the rock ; his strength was gone ; 

The heedless water mocked his thirst ; 
He heard it, saw it hurrying on. 

1 ran and raised the sufferer up— 

Thrice from the stream he drained my cup, 

Dipt and returned it running o'er ; 

I drank, and never thirsted more. 

" 'Twas night, the floods were out, it blew 

A winter hurricane aloof ; 
I heard his voice abroad, and flew 

To bid him welcome to my roof ; 
I warmed, I clothed, 1 cheered my guest, 
I laid him on my couch to rest; 
Then made the earth my bed, and seemed 
In Eden's garden, while I dreamed. 

"Stript, wounded, beaten nigh to death, 

I found him by the highway side ; 
I roused his pulse, brought back his breath, 

Revived his spirits, and supplied 
Wine, oil, refreshment; he was healed. 
I had myself a wound concealed, 
But from that hour forgot the smart, 
And peace bouud up my broken heart. 



THE ANSWER OF CONSCIENCE. 295 

" In prison I saw him next, condemned 

To meet a traitor's doom at morn ; 
The tide of lying tongues I stemmed, 

And honored him 'midst shame and scorn. 
My friendship's utmost zeal to try, 
He asked if I for him would die ; 
The flesh was weak, my blood ran chill, 
But the free spirit cried, ' I will'— 

" Then in a moment to my view 

The stranger darted from disguise, 
The token in his hands I knew— 

My Savior stood before mine eyes ! 
He spoke, and my poor name he named ; 
'Of me thou hast not been ashamed, 
These weeds shall thy memorial, be ; 
Fear not, thou didst them unto me.' " 

Montgomery. 

Who are these so piteously crying for help and 
"with no language but a cry?'* And some are 
speechless in their woe! But there is a "tongue in 
every wound" of these "poor dumb souls." 

"Silence in love bewrays more woe 
Than words, though ne'er so witty ; 
A beggar that is dumb you know, 
May challenge double pity." 

Sir Walter Raleigh. 

And when the Judge makes inquest, an awful palsy 
shall seize thy tongue — a dread silence seal thy lips. 
" He was speechless." The Christ ye knew not on 
earth, will " know you not" at the judgment of the 
last day. The chains you would not unbind shall 
manacle you. Beware! Be admonished ! The "poor 
old man" whose "sorrows brought him to your 
door" and whom you sent "empty away" was 
Jesus. The ragged urchin you would not clothe was 
the Christ. The stranger you would not take in 
was the Lord of Life, 



296 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

One has fallen among thieves, and, stripped of his 
treasure, has been left bleeding and half dead by the 
roadside. Priest and Levite heard his moan of 
anguish as he sweltered in his blood, and passed by 
on the other side. Where is the good Samaritan to 
staunch his wounds, pour reviving cordial into his 
failing body, conduct him to the Inn, transporting 
him on his own beast, humbly walking by his side, 
and becoming surety for his bill? Are you priest, 
Levite, or good Samaritan? But that mangled man 
is thy brother, thy ' 'Elder Brother," and you thought 
him a stranger, an alien. Yes, Jesus Christ has been 
assailed by highwaymen, and are you passing by on 
the other side, shutting up your bowels of compassion, 
while seeing that thy divine brother hath need ? If 
so, have done with your high professions, for "how 
dwelleth the love of God in you?" (I John iii: 17.) 

A man who never stopped to ask who was the 
drowning boy he plunged in to save, unwittingly 
rescued his own child. Had it been another man's 
son, it would have been the child Jesus. One was 
struggling with the ice, nobody stopped to inquire 
how he got there, or who he was. They shoved 
him a plank, and every time he grasped it his hand 
slipped. It was a bitter cold da)- and it was enam- 
elled with ice. At last the imperiled victim cried: 
"In the name of God, men, don't give me the icy 
end of the plank." "Be instructed, ye judges of 
the earth." Give not thy struggling brother the ice- 
coated end of the plank. Be this thy prayer : ' ' That 
mercy I to others show, that mercy show to me." 



THE ANSWER OF CONSCIENCE. 297 

"For what is the hope of the hypocrite, though 
lie hath gained, when God taketh away his soul? 
Will God hear him cry when trouble cometh upon 
him?" (Jobxxvii: 8, 9.) Will He •? But who are these, 
O watchman, ''Crying in the night?" "The poor 
ye have always with you." 

And sister, there is a word for you. Many of 
you are living on the flowery top of the world's ease. 
Your dainty feet press deep in the plush of your 
carpets. Your windows are upholstered with costly 
draperies, your walls are hung with the finest etch- 
ings, your tables are covered with the richest 
damask, you shine in satins and blaze in jewels, and 
you are fair to look upon. You have sisters that 
have fallen. They have been lured to ruin by gay 
and artful deceivers, and they are engloomed in 
shame and outlawed from society. "They are lepers 
covered with leprous spots, but they are your sisters, 
and the grace of God can save them. There is not 
.a human being this side of hell the gospel cannot 
reach. They are not worse than the dry bones, 
sunken as they are. They are not less likely to hear 
the word of God. Go to them in their vice, in their 
wretchedness; go help them up. They have not 
known what a sister's hand is. They are poor, and 
miserable; and, if they are not saved, God will 
require their blood at your hands. I want one of 
you to go to the drunken swearer and ask him to 
come to Jesus. Your ministry may s;ive him." 
{Bishop Simpson.') 



298 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

The work of christian women has redeemed Five 
Points. There are no Gibraltars of vice they cannot 
storm and take with the artillery of their consecrated 
charms, and the battery of their smiles. Now that 
they have entered Zenanas, we have promise of 
christian homes in pagan lands, of Christ-won 
mothers raising up a godly seed. The Woman's 
Christian Temperance Union is the most formidable 
force ever arrayed against the liquor traffic, and 
Frances Willard is the greatest general that ever 
marshalled an army. Joan of Arc and the Maid of 
Orleans are holiday soldiers compared with our own 
woman chieftain. Let men follow her cross-banner 
as they did the Oriflamme and white lilies of France 
borne by Joan, and they will be more invincible than 
were the maiden-led armies of France. Sister, know 
your power. Rise up and wield it. Stand in the 
sun as the wom>n of the Apocalypse, and darkness 
will fly affrighted, and superstition seek its cave. 

Read the life of Dorothea Dix, Elizabeth Fry, 
Florence Nightingale, Frances Willard, and learn 
the art of reforming love. Ask Clara Barton to 
teach you the winsome ways of the ministry of mercy. 
Pin a white ribbon on your breast and you can go 
among the most abandoned, and "roughs" and 
"toughs" will tip their hats to you, and give you 
the right of way. Charity is the best policeman. 
Your mission will be better protected than by a pla- 
toon ofPinkertons. Woman's voice is wooing, her step 
is light, her hand is soft, her tears are eloquent. 
Your beaming eye and kindling cheek will open a 



THE ANSWER OF CONSCIENCE. 299 

lighted way into the souls of the darkest. Bright 
angels do not soil their robes when they trail them 
through the slums. There is an insect known to 
naturalists that can gather about its tiny form an 
envelop of atmosphere, and thus protected descend, 
like a marine diver, into the most putrid pools in 
search of prey, and then rise and shake every defile- 
ment from its gauzy wings. Gather, by prayer, an 
armor of celestial atmosphere, and thus invested, go 
on the recovering errand, and you will suffer nothing 
from the impurities you seek to clarify. Go ; angels 
will arch their wings over your head, and pitch their 
invisible tents along your pathway. 

Let any whose conscience is quickened by these 
presentations, who would further inquire in order to 
be possessed of an armory of convincing and convict- 
ing facts, only generalized by this writer, read: "The 
Bitter Cry of Outcast London," "In Darkest Eng- 
land," {Booth) "Modern Cities, (Loomis) "Our Coun- 
try," {Strong) "Our Brother in Black," {Haygood) 
"Race Deterioration." (Royce) Such information 
will convince the most incredulous that the author 
has indulged in no extravagance, and, indeed, that 
hyperbole on the danger and distress is well nigh 
impossible. 

Let the scrutiny not lead to despair. The cry is to 
the conscience ; the call is to the work of ameliora- 
tion and redemption ; the demand is self-protection 
and social salvation ; the exaction is heart-love, hand- 
help, mercy-money. 



300 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 



CHAPTER XVI. 
HEART AND HAND HELP. 

Benevolence confers the only substantial happi- 
ness earth affords, and the approbation it excites is 
the only real glory of time. "The doer of the work 
shall be blessed in the deed" — in the testimony of 
an approving conscience, the gratitude of the reliev- 
ed, the admiration of the charitable. Even when 
done in secret, "the soul's calm sunshine, and the 
heart-felt joy," are its prize and possession. The 
grandest spectacle the earth presents to men and 
angels is a Christ-cleansed heart, pulsating with love- 
throbs, meditating how it may employ its hands so 
as to be acceptable in the sight of God, and service- 
able to his suffering creatures. When the world's 
wreathes shall wither, and scepters and crown-jewels 
* 'shall blend in common dust, " Charity's chaplets shall 
remain evergreen, as the cedars grown on celestial Leb- 
anons. The world cannot frown away a soul-smile. 
It will make a glorious summer in the breast, amid a 
winter of envy and discontent. "The kingdom of 
God is within" and "cannot be moved." "God- 
likeness has the promise of this life," and does not 
have to postpone to eternity its awards. Would you 
'/know an angel's happiness, rouse to some work of 
high and holy love," scatter the seeds of kindness-, 
plant in troubled breasts "the herb heart's-ease. " 



HEART AND HAND HELP. 301 

'• Thy love 
Shall chant itself its own beatitudes 
After its own life-working. A child's kiss 
Set on thy sighing lips shall make thee glad ; 
A poor man served by thee shall make thee rich ; 
Thou shalt be served thyself by every sense 
Of service which thou renderest." Mrs. Browning. 

In moments of retrospection, memory may light 
on the mild splendor of a summer sunset rich in 
mountains of gold, and belted with purple ; on tran- 
quil twilights, twinkling with stars and vocal with 
vespers; on landscapes of undulating green, dimpled 
with daisies, ribboned with rivulets and flecked with 
contented flocks and herds; on midsummer nights, 
when Venus kept love-watch over the festival of the 
sky, and pleasing thoughts raced, like Olympic 
charioteers, around the rings of Saturn, and comets 
trailed their phosphorescent trains in their erratic 
flights, and meteors rained their colored fires, and 
the south wind blew softly — fanning the fever from 
the cheek : but sweeter far than any scene that has 
brightened the eye and calmed the spirit, "like a 
benediction after prayer," is the recollection of a re- 
lieving deed done from a Christly motive. Oh, 
sweet charity, thou art a ' ' thing of beauty and a joy 
forever ! ' ' This heaven-descended Virgin kindles sacred 
fires on heart-altars and feeds them with sandal wood 
and ambrosia; she smoothes asperities from life's 
rugged pathway, paves it with primroses and lights 
it with the luster of her smile. Would you have a 
constituency that will never fail to bless you, that will 
police your steps, bring angel guards to pitch their 
invisible tents on your way, and give you celestial 



302 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

convoy to your immortal home? Be good. Do good. 
There is no guardianship so faithful as the love of 
those about you. Even kings have confessed that 
their only happiness in royal promotion was in the 
power the throne gave them of doing good to their 
subjects. "The reward of work well done is the 
having done it. " And the Autumn of life can be made 
as soft as an Indian Summer, if, in early and meridian 
life, you will but make light and love the law of your 
life. By ligaments of kindness tie -to you as many 
of your fellow-creatures as you can ; and when your 
feet are halting on the shortening path and the shad- 
ows are lengthening, the eye that sees you shall 
bless you, the ear that hears you shall bear witness 
for you. The grey hairs that adorn your wrinkled 
brow will be as a diadem. A loveless and unloved 
old age is like the stinted fern-tree of a polar clime; 
while a gentle and gracious life keeps enough Sum- 
mer in the heart to thaw the Winter in the veins, 
and make old age to nourish as the palm tree — lifting 
its green fronds heavenward without a withered leaf. 
Youth should forecast the future and provide for its 
contingencies in advance. The surest provision it 
can make for the Autumn of life — that in the absence 
of which riches will be but a cumber, and with which 
penury will not curse — is the store which memory 
may afford; the retrospect of a career of charity, 
chastity and Christ-hood. No glowing sunset of 
molten gold that ever wooed the pencil and pigments 
of Claude, is so entrancing as the serene closing of a 
well-ordered life, fringed with charity, and purpled 



HEART AND HAND HELP. 303 

with the witness of a conscience ' ' void of offense 
toward God and man." Such an experience turns 
life's waning day into a Beulah, sweet with odors 
and tuneful of songs floating out the gates ajar over 
" Heaven's border-land." For this failing heart how 
gently come the angelic ministries ; how soft the 
fingers that unloose the silver cord, and dissolve the 
golden bowl ! And when death comes, it is as no 
dread Apollyon brandishing his dart, but as the mes- 
senger which Jesus sends to welcome his faithful 
servant to the companionship of his triumph in that 
"better country" where "they that wait upon the 
Lord shall renew their strength ; they shall mount 
up on wings as eagles ; they shall run and not be 
weary, they shall walk and not faint." 

"Teach me to soothe the helpless orphan's grief, 
With timely aid. the widow's woes assuage ; 
To misery's moving cries to yield relief 
And be the sure resource of drooping age." 

But that which is an unfailing source of delight in 
old age, and "solid comfort when we die," is a 
source of happiness and strength at any time of life. 

"True charity, a plant divinely nursed, 
Fed by the love from which it rose at first, 
Thrives against hope, and in the rudest scene, 
Shrines but enliven its unfading green ; 
Exuberant is the shadow it supplies, 
Its fruit on earth, its growth above the skies." 

But never let us deceive ourselves that mere relief 
afforded others will bring a blessing to ourselves. It 
must be done from a Christly motive. " Kindness is 
the disposition which leads us to promote the happiness 
of others." If we have not the spirit of Christ, we 



304 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

are none of his. With the Christ-like spirit we may 
be benevolent when empty-handed. Peter had no 
silver or gold to give the lame man asking alms at 
the gate Beautiful ; but he had a loving look and a 
lifting hand that made the poor cripple to leap for 
joy, praising God. (Acts iii: 2-1 1.) So we may gen- 
tle our eyes and voices; and yield our sympathy, 
which is often more needed and warmer welcomed than 
costly gifts. "No man careth for my soul " is a bit- 
terer outcast cry than ' ' No man careth for my body. V 
It was a look of wounded love that broke Peter's 
heart of stone. A wooing glance is often a mightier 
hammer than Nasmyth ever swung on shafts of steel. 
A sympathetic tear is a great heart-breaker. When 
Elizabeth Fry spoke, it calmed the rage of madness 
and made maniacs conceit that an angel whispered : 

"Remember 'tis music's law, 
Each true, pure note, though low you sound it, 
Is heard through discord's wildest war 
Of rage and madness sounding round it." 

When Florence Nightingale threaded the wards 
of the hospital, wounded warriors turned to kiss her 
shadow on the wall. A handkerchief, broidered 
with a maiden's name, laid by her hand over the 
bloated face of a drunkard in a ditch, lifted Wm. 
Wirt from the slums to the forum. 

" Beside the church door aweary and lone 
A blind woman sat on the cold door stone ; 
The wind was bitter, the snow fell fast, 
But a mocking voice in the biting blast 
Seemed ever to echo her moaning cry, 
As she ask'd for alms of the passers by 
The bells were ringing the hour of prayer, 
And many good people were gathering there, 



HEART AND HAND HELP. 305 

But muffled in furs and mantles warm 
They hurried past through the wintry storm ; 
And some were cover'd with thick veils of lace, 
And swiftly they swept to the place of grace, 
But saw not the sorrow nor heard the moan 
Of her who sat on the cold door stone. 
And some were thinking their souls to save, 
And some were thinking of death and the grave. 
Alas, they had no time to hear and heed 
The poor soul asking for charity's need. 
At length came one of a noble name, 
By the city counted the wealthiest dame, 
And the pearls that o'er her neck were strung, 
She proudly these to the beggar flung ; 
Then followed a maiden both young and fair, 
And adorned with clusters of golden hair, 
But her dress was thin and scanty and worn, 
Not even the beggars seemed more forlorn ; 
With a pitying eye and tender sigh, 
She whispered softly, "No jewels have I, 
But 1 give you my prayers, good friend," said she, 
"And surely I know God listens to me ; " 
On her poor, weak hand, so shrunken and small, 
The blind woman felt a tear-drop fall, 
Then kissed it and said to the weeping girl, 
" 'Tis you that have given the purest pearl." 

Then, too, every gift should be kindly bestowed. 
To throw it down with a patronizing" air, to accom- 
pany it with a reproach, to manifest impatience, to 
give it to get rid of importunity, is to rob one's self 
of the blessing and perhaps to inflict a severer woe 
than that it was bestowed to relieve. And we should 
attend it with prayer. At conferences and synods it 
is quite common to hear the question: "Are all your 
collections full ? " Did any one ever hear the Bishop 
or moderator ask : ' 'Are your prayers for missions, 
church extension, Bible distribution, full?" "Ask, 
and I will give thee the heathen for an inheritance." 
1 l Ask y and it shall be given you. " ' 'All things, whatso- 
ever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive." 



306 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

May it not be possible that some of our gifts fail to 
benefit 'because they are prayerlessly, unbelievingly 
rendered ? God is seeking our training, and not merely 
the helping of others, at our hands. God is not lacking 
in resources so that he has to depend on us. The silver 
and gold are his — ' 'the earth, and the fullness thereof. " 
" Offer unto God thanksgiving, and pay thy vows 
unto the Most High." In David's confession he 
knew that God did not desire sacrifice (a gift), but 
that a broken heart was in demand.- When we are 
prayerful, "Then shalt Thou be pleased with the sac- 
rifices of righteousness," etc. (Psalm li : 16-19.) 

The charitable, too, should be discriminating in 
their gifts, lest they encourage idleness and profligacy. 
We are not required to help those able to help them- 
selves. A vast army of tramps has grown up 
because of this uninquiring feeding and clothing of 
lazy louts. It is said they number 80,000. They 
have multiplied murders, rapes and arson, rendering 
residence in some parts of the country so perilous 
that many women live in constant dread, and tremb- 
lingly empty their larders, and scant their wardrobes, 
because of the fear to offend. Professional mendicants 
have their "beats" and make their circuit with the 
punctuality of a police roundsman. The number of 
men "born tired and never rested" is increasing. 
These itinerant vagabonds raid the country during 
the summer, and flock to the cities during the winter, 
°to live by their wits," to worry the busy into their 
support, and are an element easily mobilized for a 
street riot. Some of them wander while the weather 



HEART AND HAND HELP. 307' 

is mild, and then return to the city, commit some 
petit larceny that will send them to jail for winter 
quarters, and thus keep the countryside in dread 
half of the year; and the other half they crowd the 
docket with their crimes, and live at the expense of 
the municipality. Some of this worthless class — 
trifling mistletoes on the oak of society — have actu- 
ally maimed themselves to point their plea, and to 
escape work when condemned for crime. 

It is not sufficient to be cheerfully generous, but 
charity should be scrutinizing as to the merit of its 
subjects, and as carefully withhold from the unworthy 
as it cheerfully gives to the worthy. There is, 
among the thoughtful, a growing distrust of city 
charities. A poor fund always creates ten appli- 
cants for every dollar it distributes. Busy men say 
they have no time to investigate the claims of indi- 
viduals and institutions soliciting their aid, and hence, 
recklessly, without concert or system, they give to 
undeserving objects and meritless subjects. When 
Job was patriarch of his tribe, he "put on righteous- 
ness and it clothed me ; my judgment was as a robe and 
diadem ; and the cause which I knew not I searched out 
(examined) ; and I broke the jaws of the wicked 
and plucked the spoil out of his teeth." Our mer- 
chant-princes and money-kings allow shiftless spend- 
thrifts "to jaw them;" and then having fed the 
shameless mendicants, furnish them with tooth-picks 
as the tools of their leisure. The Roman church 
has an order, "The Little Sisters of the Poor," 
composed of children trained to beg, to bear rebuff 



308 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

without retort, to thankfully take a match or pin when 
no more is offered; and thus brought up, with every 
sensibility blunted, the adult women are employed 
in a mendicancy so void of shame as to be blushless 
for offences that would pale the cheek of darkness. 
The charitable should be a "father to the poor," 
instead of a mere almoner. Would a father willingly 
give his child money to be spent in a saloon? "If 
thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not He 
that pondereth the heart consider it? and He that 
keepeth thy soul, doth not He know it ? and shall 
not He render to every man according to his works?" 
(Prov. xxiv: n, 12.) Sometimes a dime is, given 
when a dollar was required, and again a dollar is 
given when a penny should be withheld. People too 
proud to beg die of hunger under the very shadow 
of the eaves of wealth. Gregory the Great imposed 
upon himself the severest penance because a man 
died in the streets of Rome — the city in which he 
was Pope, Papa, Father. In Mediaeval times rich 
and poor lived in the same street. Indeed, towns 
grew through the gathering of the poor about the 
manor gate. Now Tyburnias and Belgraves quarter 
the rich, and Canongates and St. Giles herd the 
poor. Fifth Avenue and East-sides are separated 
by unbridged gulfs. In the "brave old days " of 
Rome, 

"The great man helped the poor, 
And the poor man loved the great ; " 

but now we hear much about the "classes against 
the masses." The rich withdraw to marble-built 



HEART AND HAND HELP. 309 

avenues and the poor are herded in alleys. The 
elite Four Hundred out of two millions utter their 
procul este profani, and deny entree X.o all but princely 
Money-Bags. Ward McAllister waves the baton 
and calls out the quadrilles to all who ' ' dance attend- 
ance " on his dictum amid the " up-town " palaces, 
and Herr Most raves and ravens amid the squalid 
wretchedness that lines the East-side with its towering 
tenements in which human maggots feed and fester. 
Meanwhile the pent-up mountain mutters its earth- 
quake warning and mines of dynamite burst amid the 
platoons of the police. "Let us hasten to put in 
practice the Decalogue and the Golden Rule, for a 
new Sinai is ready to open under our feet if we do 
not." The rich must wake up, for an alarm bell is 
ringing. Business men must make, take, leisure to 
learn the wants and woes of the multitude dying 
like poisoned rats of rage in their rookeries; they 
must quiz the Sphinx, study the problem, "search 
out the cause " and lend a hand of help, or the mob 
will muster, that will repeat and multiply the railroad 
riot, of Pittsburgh; the court house riot, of Cincin- 
nati ; the draft-riot, of New York, and the Haymarket 
massacre, of Chicago. The steam gauge registers a 
high pressure. It will not do to sham relief by a 
blowing of whistles. Let the restless power find 
escape through the cylinder and the revolution of 
wheels geared to looms, spindles and trip-hammers. 
Men who want work, need it, and we must find some- 
thing for idle hands to do, or Satan w p ill employ them. 
Hunger never reasons. It augurs well when the 



310 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

Bishop of the richest diocese in America, yokes him- 
self to the cause of oppressed labor and the pleading 
poor, and his nephew ignores ease to make his home 
among the squalid, that he may save some. Prot- 
estantism must increase its Howards, and Oberlins, 
and Huntingtons, and Frys, and Nightingales, and 
Willards, and Bartons ; or, that enchantress, Rome, 
will cast its fatal spell over our rulers, and by the 
arts of the sorceress, hand us over, thralled to ' 'god- 
less expedience," cursed of God, ''to dare the ven- 
geance from to-morrow's skies." Politics have well- 
nigh been surrendered to pot-house politicians, and 
we are in peril of committing charity to the keeping 
of professional philanthropists. And all this folly 
under the specious plea of business pressure. Swollen 
streams of charity are flooding about us, only to. plow 
deeper channels for poverty and perdition. He is 
not wise, and often, is not merciful, who doles out 
money to gain time, and whose charity flows only 
through salaried agents and official almoners. It 
may be doubted whether, in many cases, "wisdom 
is justified of her children," in the indiscriminate aid 
to young men seeking an education, or who are can- 
didates for the ministry. Such aid tends to break 
the spirit of independence ; and so to familiarize with 
the habit of being helped, as to look for assistance 
without self-exertion in every emergency of life. We 
have seen men who are like turtles ; put them on 
their backs and they expend an immense amount of 
energy in a useless beating of the air with their flip- 
pers, and, unless some friendly hand turn them over, 



HEART AND HAND HELP. 311 

they never regain their footing. Others, are as agile 
as cats ; fling them into the air, and though they turn 
a score of somersaults in their descent, every time they 
will alight nimbly on their feet, and race away to do 
some successful mousing for themselves. Hand-help 
is needed, but oftenest by those of too independent a 
spirit to beg for it. Self-assertion, lost to pride, is 
suppliant ; modest merit is dumb. Therefore, the 
necessity for scrutiny, that lavish-giving, to conserve 
time and trouble, may not confer a curse rather than 
a blessing on the poor. Jesus was purseless and 
minted no money for charitable uses. He righted 
principles, and trusted to these to right the man. A 
sop of charity may win a half-choked "thank you," 
but the gratitude will perish at the next drink-shop. 
The poorest may teach the ignorant, encourage fru- 
gality and cleanliness, and thus remove a prolific 
cause of vice and thriftlessness. Truth has been smiled 
into many an endungeoned nature. Perfunctory 
visiting, from Committees, executed with an intrusive 
insolence that placards its own patronizing complac- 
ency, has often insulted native pride and generated 
resentment. When the poor see busy men take the 
time to acquaint themselves with their necessities, 
they will feel that they are burden-bearers, who aspire 
to lift the load from their shoulders. I have seen a home 
transformed from filth to cleanliness, because of the 
influx of friendly visitors to whom willful untidiness 
is inhospitality. I have been kept waiting in a hall, 
that a room, in chaos for a week, might be righted for 
my reception. Every pastor will witness the same 



312 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

fact. Churchless people who never indulge in a bath, 
or a weekly change of clean clothes, by being made 
church-goers, have been made neat in apparel and 
toilet preparation for decent appearance in the house 
of God. Unkempt children are made prim and en- 
gaging by being brought into the Sabbath School. 
Chromo cards, dispensed by teachers, clear away the 
junk of a mantel for a place to put them, and thus art 
finds a display where before nothing but a forbidding 
jumble met the eye. Gospel hymns have silenced 
the coarse minstrelsy of the beer-garden stage, and 
yellow-back novels have been chased into the fire to 
make room for a Bible. New themes of conversation 
are introduced into the home ; and slang, profanity 
and obscenity, have fled like pestilential airs before 
disinfectants. 

Parents, witnessing higher aspirations in their chil- 
dren, have become inspired to soften their manners, 
chasten their speech, and reform their vices. If 
there be those calling themselves Christians, who 
cannot find incentives to such helpfulness as is 
here suggested, then it were well some missionary 
should find way to their drawing-rooms to teach them 
the mind and methods of Christ. Jesus, in his visi- 
tations, took occasion of the intrusion of the woman 
who was a sinner into Simon's house, to remind 
him of an omitted decorum ; and of Martha's petulant 
complaint of Mary to commend her sister's better 
part, and to rebuke an overweening carefulness for 
many worldly concerns. With studied tact and gen- 
tleness a more excellent way may oftentimes be 



HEART AND HAND HELP. 313 

hinted or commended, with reforming, results. "All 
hearts are like magic roses ; though withered and 
dying, a warm air breathed upon them will suffice to 
renew their bloom." 

If the erring are ever saved it must be after we have 
abandoned all proxy expedients, and yielded practi- 
cal assent to Paul's counsel. "Brethren, if a man be 
overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore 
such an one in the spirit of meekness ; considering 
thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one 
another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ." If 
each Christian would single out a family for such 
evangelism, how quickly would the dark places 
brighten into centers of light. If all would thus be- 
come engaged the radiant centers would become con- 
fluent, and thus the night of woe would be dispelled. 
"As we have, therefore, opportunity, let us do good 
unto all men." 

Many shudder to encounter human sorrow, lest it 
shade their own hearts. There may indeed be, by 
personal contact with wretchedness, a momentary 
obscuration ; but, like an eclipsed sun which seems to 
shine brighter when the penumbra has passed, life 
would take on a fresher glow. Bring two flickering 
tapers together and the flame of each mounts higher 
and burns brighter. The same is true of souls brought 
in contact for high and holy purposes. Pre-millenari- 
ans teach that men will become bad, worse, worst, until 
the Second Advent, and that Satan will then be 
chained for a thousand years. Our Bible has read 
into us no such pessimistic nonsense. 



314 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

The world will grow brighter every day. The 
present unrest of the world is the result of waking up 
to a knowledge of human wretchedness. Wise phi- 
lanthropy is planning, devout hearts are praying, full 
and open hands are distributing, laws are becoming 
more humane, the agencies of evangelism are multi- 
plying, the mists of doubt and superstition are fly- 
ing, "the morning cometh." "Old things are pass- 
ing away, and, behold ! all things are becoming 
new." An old Pagan said: "Wish, well to all, and 
do good only to friends." The Spirit of the Age 
sends such moralizing to oblivion. We are learning 
to love our enemies that we may transform them into 
friends. God's grace is disciplining us to "overcome 
evil with good. " The dying prayer of Christ is becom- 
ing the Magna Charta of love. "When one forgives, 
the man who has been forgiven stands to him in the 
relation of a sea- worm that perforates the shell of the 
mussle^ that straightway closes the wound with a 
pearl." 

" Tis not enough that we with sorrow sigh ; 
That we the plea-ding wants of man supply ; 
That we a sympathy with sufferers feel ; 
Nor hear a grief without a wish to heal. 
Not these suffice; to sickness, pain and woe, 
The Christian t-pirit loves with aid to go; 
Will not be sought ; waits not for want to plead ; 
But seeks the duty— nay, prevents the need." 

Be sure you cannot bribe God, or successfully lie 
to the Holy Ghost. If you deny yourself nothing; 
cram your house with carved furniture, Arras hang- 
ings, sculptured marbles, antique bric-a-brac, Sevr&s 
porcelain, cathedral clocks, artistic etchings, mosaic 



HEART AND HAND HELP 315 

hearth-stones, billiard tables, bowling alleys; if you fill 
your cellars with wines of costly vintage, your stables 
with thorough-breds, your kennels with pedigreed 
dogs, your conservatories with exotics, your lawns with 
shaven grass, and blooming parterres ; if you clothe 
your body with cashmeres, broadcloths, silks and 
jewels ; if you subscribe for the Opera season, lease 
a proscenium stall, rent the highest-priced pew in the 
Church, ride to your recreations or devotions in 
landaus, behind caparisoned steeds, and stretch and 
strain your credit to maintain the garish splendor of 
society elites — "the vain pomp and glory of the world" 
— do not attempt to hoodwink your pastor, or to in- 
sult God by the pretense of being "hard-up ; " do not 
say to them what you would be offended to have 
them repeat on change, or to your coterie. God has 
paralysis and apoplexy parked with his artillery now, 
as in the days of Ananias and Sapphira. Secrete, like 
Achan in his tent a golden wedge, your gold-bear- 
ing bonds in the Safe Deposit, clip and cash your 
coupons with sharp and silent scissors, but do not 
attempt to "throw sand"' in the All-seeing Eye, or 
the Argus eyes of Society. Do not add to pride and 
pageantry the guilt of lying. While you have 
"enough and to spare," do not attempt to compound 
your felony by a show of charity. — 

"The paltry penny drop : 
A penny to a beggar to bribe God ; 
To let you keep in comfort your stuff'd chair, 
To stave the feeling off of too much gold." 

Do not allow yourself to forget that you are to 
settle your stewardship with God, that in the final 



316 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

audit, the Righteous Judge will exact the last farth- 
ing from the Ananiases, Sapphiras and Achans. 
The gauge of duty is the gauge of ability. Live 
while you live ; not the epicurean existence, nor the 
stoical, but the Christian. Be not an itinerant tomb. 

"He is dead whose hand is not opened wide 
To help the need of a human brother; 
He doubles the life of his long ride 
Who gives his fortunate place to another; 
And a thousand million lives are his 
Who carries the world in his sympathies. 

To deny 

Is to die." 

Hitherto the Lord hath helped you — helped you 
to a fortune, and you, maybe, have lavished it on 
yourself. Your day of need is coming. On that 
day you will be offered, in a silver spoon, a gruel as 
tempting as nectar, and your palate will refuse it; 
you will recline on a bed of eider, and it will not give 
soft repose ; the walls of your chamber will be hung 
with the choicest bits of art, and your glazed eye will 
not see them ; your physician will stand despairingly 
by your pillow, counting the threaded pulse and num- 
bering ypur minutes ; were all the specifics of the 
pharmacopeia at hand, they would yield no healing 
help ; friends will entreat you to linger and you can- 
not stay; your pastor will con the litany of hope, and 
no response will murmur on your colorless and dumb 
lips — that will be your day of need and trouble. 
What would you give then for memories, such as Cato 
cherished, of benefits and friendly offices done to 
others, sealed, as his was not, with Christ's attesting 
blood, and to have your pastor whisper in your ear, 



HEART AND HAND HELP. 317 

"Blessed is he that cohsidereth the poor ; the Lord will 
deliver him in time of trouble?" "To be forewarned is 
to be forearmed." 

Oh, that each in the day of His coming niay say, 

"I have fought my way through ; 
I have finished the work thou didst give me to do !" 
Oh, that each from his Lord may receive the glad word, • 

"Well and faithfully done ! 
Enter into my joy, and sit down on my throne ! " 



318 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

THE MORNING COMETH. 

We Heir the past. Its lessons are before us, its 
treasure is at our feet. 

"We are living, we are dwelling, 
In a grand and awful time, 
In an age on ages telling, 
To be living is sublime." 

We are living in an age of thought. Once a few 
irien did the thinking for the world. Once a few 
leaders 

"Wielded at will the fierce democracy, 
And fulmined over Greece to Macedon, 
And Artaxerxes' throne." 

Men were like sheep, jumping where the bell- 
wether leaped. Sons were of the same trade as their 
sires. Improvement by innovating invention was 
regarded as a crime against ancestry. What is the 
established authority ? What is the received author- 
ity? What was the custom of the Fathers? — were 
the sole inquiries. Civilization was stationary, be- 
cause thought wa. stereotyped by tradition and 
authority. Now, the inquiry is for the better way. 
Men have snapped the withes that bound them to 
the past, and are seeking, in their unfettered freedom, 
to read the riddles of time and to solve the enigmas 
of eternity. A massive Sphinx, with fixed eyes, 
throned over desert sands and beneath clouded hori- 
zons, typified the world's gaze into vacuity. Now, 



THE MORNING COMETH. 319 

Argus with multiplex eyes, and Briareus with an 
hundred arms, are descrying the possible and embrac- 
ing opportunity. The fatalism symboled by the 
Laocoon crushing in its pythian folds the victims of 
its contortions and convulsions, has given place to an 
angel flying through the sunlit heavens, with waken- 
ing trumpet at its lips and broad vans sweeping 
clouds away as they beat the air, types the spirit of 
the age. Aristotles are no more the Archons of 
philosophy swaying by a syllogism. Lycurguses are 
no more the arbiters of Nations. Caesars are no more 
the Imperators of Empire. The world is not now an 
infant, pleased with a rattle, tickled with a straw, 
soothed by a lullaby ; but a Hercules, refusing to be 
strangled in its cradle. Prometheus is no longer 
bound to the rock as food for vultures, because of the 
theft of celestial fire. Procrustes cannot, now, fit 
his guests to his couch by stretching them if too short, 
and clipping them, if too long for his iron bedstead. 
The key of knowledge is springing every bolt in the 
wards of Nature's mysteries. The art of printing 
puts all wisdom within the reach of inquiring intelli- 
gences. At one time only Princes and Monas- 
teries could own a book. Now, the poorest may 
own a library. More learning can be bought for a 
penny than once for a thousand pounds. Thousands 
are possessors of more lore than was stored in the 
Alexandrian library. Knowledge need no longer be 
received second-hand, filtered through the conceits 
of a few Emperors of mind. The Bible is the cheap- 
est of all books. A nickel will buy a New Testament ; 



320 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

a quarter of a dollar, God's entire revealed will. 
Priest-craft is shorn of its locks. Creeds no longer 
hold servile their votaries. Public schools render an 
education possible to every urchin. Colleges crown 
the hill-tops, universities the mountains. Science 
breaks the seal of nature's long-hidden Arcanum, and 
every altar smokes with the tribute offerings of ex- 
ploration. Facts are generalized, principles are classi- 
fied, and conclusions are the common property of 
every truth-seeker. Liberty follows In the wake of 
learning, and renders phosphorescent every sea cut 
by exploring keel. An intelligent people cannot long 
be kept in serf-hood or slavery. Our age has wit- 
nessed almost universal emancipation. Russia has 
no serfs. Christendom has no slaves. The papacy is 
without a throne. The yoke of monarchy is broken. 
The people are crowned. Sovereignty is with the 
masses. Hereditary nobility is in the last stage of 
consumption. Dis-establishment of kings and of 
churches is the order of the day. With the wane of 
primogeniture, there is a re-distribution of lands. 
Monarchs and Ecclesiastics no longer feed and fatten 
on the fortunes of subjects and devotees. Stanley 
tells us that the advance of civilization from the 
North and South will crush Mohammedanism at the 
equatorial meeting on "the Dark Continent." Chris- 
tian civilization has abolished the Juggernaut car and 
quenched the fire of the Suttee, in India. The 
Ganges no longer claims the tribute of sacrificed chil- 
dren. The seraglio is invaded. The zenana is open 
to Christian teaching. Woman is free. There are 



THE MORNING COMETH. 321 

no sealed ports. The Chinese wall is breached. 
Japan is wheeling into line, and soon will take its 
rank among Christian nations. The Isles of the sea 
no longer wait. Their light has come and the glory 
of the Lord has risen upon them. Cannibalism is a 
grim romance of the past. Machine-farming gets 
ready to supply the demand of world-wide markets, 
that civilization is making of continents and their 
teeming millions. The croaker cries that the world 
is degenerating, mankind is back-sliding. But a 
power is abroad shaking the earth with its giant 
tread. Thrones rock on their ancient foundations. 
Castled wrong totters to its fall. Hundreds of reform- 
ing, revolutionizing, regenerating agencies, are turn- 
ing the world upside down and right side up. Punshon 
compared the former time to "a huge primeval forest, 
rioting in every luxury of rank vegetation, with trees 
of giant bole, and whose branches, thickly arched, 
veiled the sun;" and, in the latter time, he heard a 
"stir in the forest, for 'the feller has come up against 
the trees. ' Affection clinging to some cherished 
association, and with broken voice and with imploring 
hands, says: 'Woodman, spare that tree.' But the 
Woodman hath no pity, and at every stroke he 
destroys the useless, or dislodges the pestilent, or 
slaughters the cruel. The vision vanisheth, but again, 

' I look , aside the mist has rolled, 
The Master seems the builder too ; 
Up-springing from the ruined old 

I see the new ! 
Twas but the ruin of the bad, 
The wasting of the wrong and ill, 
Whate'er of good the old time had, 

Is living still. " 



322 WEALTH AND WORKMENr 

"Say not thou, What is the cause that the former 
days were better than these ? for thou dost not inquire 
wisely concerning this. " (Ec. vii. 10.) 

True, the ragged remnants of old garments may 
cling about the form of the world; but it has out- 
grown them, and is taking measures! for a new suit 
for the wedding of the earth and sky. Think of the 
world's libraries, galleries of art, museums of curiosi- 
ties, cabinets of minerals, vast herbariums, and Botani- 
cal and Zoological gardens. Look at the Argosies 
and Armadas that ride the wave ! See the monu- 
ments of skill and industry ! Viaducts spanning 
straits and sounds, tunnels threading Hoosacs and 
Cenii and burrowing under rivers. Canals cutting 
Isthmuses, the earth chequered with iron, the mighty 
telegraphic art, photography fixing faces, phono- 
graphs treasuring tones, telephones talking with 
tongues of lightning, balloons careering our clouds 
and courting the skies ; steam plows, reapers, binders, 
threshers, mills. Hear the hoarse breath of furnaces 
and foundries, the thunder-thud of trip-hammers, the 
dash of iron-shuttles, the hum of myriads of spindles, 
the chorus of ringing anvils, the blast of dynamite, 
the rush of trains, the bustle of marts ! Consider the 
triumphs of the healing art, the calming and clearing 
of lunatics, the reformatories for criminals, the aboli- 
tion of the ''straight-jacket," the whipping-post, 
blood-letting, mercury-poisoning, fire-damp, and the 
brave fight being made for the conquest of Malaria ! 
Antiseptics neutralize mephitic poisons, soporifics woo 
sleep, anodynes soothe pain and strip surgery of its 



THE MORNING CQMETH. 323 

cruelty. Seals afford protection against winter's 
chill, whales furnish oil for our lamps and machinery, 
shell-fish yield us gems and food. Geographers are 
mapping ocean-beds and atmospheres, as well as 
earth ; and the paths of currents and winds are being 
charted. Magnetic needles direct our navigators, 
telegraphs warn us of approaching storms, farmers 
plant and mariners sail by meteoric suggestion ; iron, 
in a thousand useful forms, contributes to our com- 
fort ; coal yields us medicine and colors as well as 
fuel. All forests render tribute to architecture. 
Reeds and strings afford us music. All climes yield 
their harvests to our boards. Fowls surrender their 
plumage to soften our beds. Insects give us dyes. 
Telescopes explore the distant star-fields, microscopes 
the world of atoms and animalculae. Chronometers 
time our toils and pleasures. Diamonds deck our 
coronets. Song-birds beguile our leisure hours. 
Has not man well-nigh completed his conquest of the 
elements and his sovereignty over the denizens of 
earth, air and ocean ? The commission to ' ' subdue " 
the earth has well-nigh been consummated. Labor- 
saving machines lessen fatigue, make toil a luxury, 
and yield us leisure to learn and love. Our great 
Republic tells us of time's last and noblest Empire. 
Like Vesta, she invites all nations to her hospitable 
fireside; like Mercury, she courses the air; like Nep- 
tune, she sails the seas ; like Vulcan, she presides at 
forges ; like Ceres, she gathers all grains and fruits 
into her golden cornucopia ; like Venus, she holds 
court for beauty ; like the Sibyl, she whispers of vir- 



324 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

tue and prophesies of bliss. Evangel of Freedom, 
she pleads for the oppressed and gives the fugitive 
from tyranny refuge. Seated between the seas, she 
brooches the earth and wears the insignia befitting 
the true sovereignty of man. Our noble English 
tongue goes on its winning way to make a Pentecost, 
where all shall hear and speak a common language. 
Our country will assimilate her emigrants and mingle 
and make an eclectic stock of the world's best blood. 
Her virgin soil will give them homes, and contented 
billions will yet rejoice beneath the sheltering wings 
of her eagle. Romanism, transplanted, will become 
infused with evangelical vigor, and, purged of her 
impurities, finally contribute to earth's regeneration, 
becoming Catholic, without a Latin prefix, in the 
highest sense of the term. Contact with Protestant- 
ism, conflict with free, enlightened thought will neutral- 
ize her heretic dogmas, and priestcraft will be stripped 
of its Jesuitical power. Imported socialism, securing 
property and domiciled in homes, will be divested of 
its disturbing iconoclasm, and learn to protect rather 
than destroy the muniments of freedom. Our cities, 
with rapid transit, will surround themselves with 
suburban villas, and the vice-creating tenements sur- 
vive only as relics of a relieved congestion of popu- 
lation. The saloon will be prohibited, and drunken- 
ness only be remembered as a moral leprosy that 
cursed the unhappy past. The rescued Sabbath will 
weekly repeat its blessings, and multitudes of happy 
worshipers will throng our churches to hear of 
Heaven and to learn the way. Converted metropoles 



THE MORNING COMETH. 325 

will radiate benediction -on all the surrounding- 
country, and "the storm centers" become the con- 
verging capitals of a peaceful calm. A growing 
evangelism will disinfect the slums'; social purity will 
act with antiseptic power on the purlieus of prostitu- 
tion ; marriage will become sacramental, divorce be 
outlawed, and a blissful family life be the consolation 
of hearts and the consecration of homes. Capital 
will share with labor in the approaching partnership 
agitation is compelling. Bloated fortunes will become 
impossible, and a community of virtue diminish all 
factitious distinctions in society. There will be no 
"privileged classes,"* no neglected masses. All that 
is fittest will survive, and natural selection, under 
supernatural influences, will perpetuate all that ought 
to endure. Our freedmen will escape the toils of de- 
bauching drink, learn that license is not liberty, break 
the shackles of partisan servitude, ' ' previous condi- 
tion " will be obliterated from memory as time re- 
moves us from the era of slavery; the industrial South 
will appreciate and protect its allied labor, education 
will drive superstition to its cave, morality and relig- 
ion take away the taunt of color, and— 

" Man in the sunshine of the world's fresh new spring 
Will walk abroad like some new transparent thing." 

Missions, at home and abroad, will perform their 
heaven-ordained and divinely directed office, making 
producers of consumers, conservators of the peace of 
agitators, Christians of domestic and foreign heathen. 
Mormon abominations are being swept away by the 
rising flood of patriotic indignation. Indian prowlers 
will be exterminated or citizenized ; the Chinese, con- 



326 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

verted to God, will be christianized and assimilated. 
Capital and labor will equitably compose their diffi- 
culties ; invention will exhaust its invasion of estab- 
lished industries by harnessing its lost power to ma- 
chinery ; society will become so argus-eyed and vigi- 
lant that the culprit cannot find a hiding-place; virtue 
will shame vice to sobriety and chastity, and a grander 
confederation of men, made brotherly, will institute a 
reign more fraternal than the founders of the Amphyc- 
tionic counsel ever hoped for. 

"We must restore the element of Hope." A 
disease is half-cured when correctly diagnosed. Wide- 
spread agitation proves that the evil to be mastered 
has been discerned. From one hundred different 
stand-points the remedy is being suggested. When 
all theories have been winnowed of their chaff, philan- 
thropy will hold a handful of golden grain. Plant 
it, and a surprising harvest will reward the sowing. 
Discontent with the prevailing order prophesies of a 
new one. Nothing is a surer precursor of fatality 
than painless disease. When the quiet patient begs 
to be let alone, death is at the door. Contentment, 
under injustice and wrong, is an infallible indicator 
that it is to continue. The palpable and portentous 
disquietude is an omen of a coming calm. Men will 
learn at last that the rectification of wrong, the over- 
throw of evil, are pendent on the Gospel of Christ, the 
equities it institutes. There would be occasion for 
despair were it not that we have a living, loving 
Christ. Archimedes would move the world if fur- 
nished with a fulcrum for his lever. 



THE MORNING COMETH. 827 

God has a lever and a fulcrum with which to move 
the world. The lever is love ; the fulcrum is the 
cross. "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth will 
draw all men unto me. This he said, signifying what 
death he should die." A magnet will attract to it all 
the iron filings within the circuit of its attraction. 
"All power is given unto me in Heaven and earth." 
All power is Christ's; the magnet he levels upon "all 
men" is his crucifixion-love. Do you derisively smile? 
Hear "the sure word of prophecy!" "There shall 
come in the last days scoffers, walking after their 
own lusts;" — " unto -him shall the gathering of the 
people be." They are gathering. They are "flock- 
ing as doves to the windows." There was a time 
when only a small remnant of the Jews were believ- 
ing. It looked very hopeless when "the Crucified 
one''' said, "beginning at Jerusalem." But the 
Apostles began, Greece gathered, Rome capitulated, 
Gaul, Scandinavia, Britain, Spain, and Asia Minor 
gathered; and in our day Fiji, Madagascar, the Hawaian 
and Samoan groups of islands, gathered. India, Bur- 
mah, and Japan are gathering. China and the Congo 
begin to move. "All men " will be drawn, gathered 
into Christ, as members of his mystical body. You 
can not drive men with a goad, or pull them with a 
trace, or push them with a threat, but they can be 
drawn with the Gospel load-stone. Wooed and won by 
its subtle magnetism "every knee should bow and every 
tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the Glory 
of God, the Father." Believe it, or be blasted by his 
withering frown ! ' ' Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and 



328 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled 
but a little." Christ \ l must reign 'till he hath put all 
enemies under his feet. " Crown him, or be crushed. 
Storms clear the air of impurities. After them the 
calm, the serene sky, the green earth. The darkest 
hour precedes the dawn. When things are at their 
worst, any change is one for the better. No Christian 
can be a pessimist The Greeks put their golden age 
in the past ; the Gospel tells of a ' 'time of restitution, " 
— of .-"new Heavens and a new earth; wherein dwell- 
eth righteousness. " The heart of humanity never 
wearies of singing ''there's a good time a-coming. " 
The watchman of Dumah told of a waning night, of 
a breaking day, and of a bursting morn. If any flaw 
can be picked in Dr. Strong's "Our Country," it is 
that, while its night of gloom is not starless, its morn 
is too grey and misty. The day ' 'the bright morning 
star" heralds, will break suddenly, and the Sun of 
Righteousness will rise with healing in his wings. The 
king of day will come rejoicing in the East as a bride- 
groom coming out of his chamber, and as a strong 
man to run a race. ' ' His going forth is from the end 
of the Heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it : 
and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof." It 
will unfetter every frozen streamlet, melt every chain, 
and.afTord a hospitable fireside for all earth's family. 
The world is growing brighter and better every day. 
Every balked endeavor is a help toward success. The 
world learns by its failures. Every unsuccessful 
effort teaches wisdom. Men will avoid the errors 
that have baffled the plans and postponed the hopes 



THE MORNING COMETH. 329 

of humanity. Every defeat is a call for better drill and 
arms. Every ship that sinks is " to another sea." 
The greyhounds of the ocean are the product of ship- 
wreck. Honest failure hedges in the true path and 
makes it easier to find. "The blood of the martyrs 
is the seed of the church." He "that cometh from 
Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah — glorious in 
his apparel, travelingin the greatness of his strength" — 
tells of struggle and bloodshed. The Dark Ages were 
succeeded by the printing press, making possible a free, 
open Bible. "Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, 
God hath shined." The morning light is breaking on 
Pagan lands. Old religions are going to pieces. The 
wreck of the old precedes the incoming of the new. 
Brahminism, Buddhism, Sintooism, Mohammedanism 
are disintegrating. The world has now no hermit 
nations. Science dispels the illusions of the false relig- 
ions. Many are running to and fro, and knowledge 
is being increased, steam and electricity are destroy- 
ing provincialism, mountain barriers are tunnelled, 
separating rivers are bridged, peninsulas are canalled, 
oceans are ferried — all natural barriers are being an- 
nihilated. Nations are neighbors ; men are brothers. 
Commerce and civilization, the true offspring of 
Christianity, are unifying interests and language. 
Diplomacy succeeds war. Arbitration settles national 
difficulties. The occupation of the soldier will soon 
be gone, and bayonets will be turned into pruning- 
knives, swords into plow-shares, artillery into chimes 
of church-going bells. Millions of men will possess 
the peaceful arts of husbandry and become producers 



330 WEALTH AND ^WORKMEN. 

and conservators of the Fruits of industry, instead of 
their destroyers. Wealth, no longer wasted by idle 
armies marching and counter-marching in times 
of peace, and hurling the iron of wickedness in time 
of war, will be employed in cultivating mind, multi- 
plying institutions for education and monuments of 
taste. Highways will be as paved streets ; aqueducts 
will thread the country, giving pure drink and fertiliz- 
ing refreshment to thirsty tongues and soil ; every 
wilderness and solitary place will be made glad ; deserts 
will be made to rejoice and blossom as the garden of 
God ; alkali plains, by irrigating processes, will be 
turned into fertile farms ; cataracts will be harnessed 
to thousands of mill-wheels ; and, possibly, the Aurora 
Borealis will light our cities, the atmospheric seas 
will be sailed by aerial ships as Cunarders now the 
oceans. Eleemosynary institutions, life insurance, the 
husbandry of riches, the product of the world's skill 
and sweat, will abolish poverty ; every herb and 
mineral will yield its medicament, each pain will have 
its anodyne, each disease its specific remedy, the 
pathology of every constitution will be understood, 
surgery will be brought to perfection by a growing 
intelligence and the instruments of invention ; 
morasses will be drained and miasma cease to taint 
the air; plentiful food will abolish all motive to 
adulteration; prohibition of the liquor traffic will 
prevail and temperance add an increment to produc- 
tive toil and a thousand conveniences and comforts to 
homes ; crime, left without a motive, will no longer 
curse; slavery will be unknown, hereditary despotism 



THE MORNING COMETH. 331 

and entailed fortunes will perish ; freedom will be 
universal, laws will be mild, taxes light, and general 
enlightenment will take the place of ignorance and 
superstition ; monopoly will be overthrown by co-oper- 
ative capital and labor; millionaires and paupers will 
be alike impossible ; congenital diatheses will disap- 
pear, life will be prolonged, sickness be regarded as a 
sin, and health become contagious. By "the federa- 
tion of the world," through commerce and Christian- 
ity, science will be able to extort the last secret from 
nature's deep arcana, and with universal facts perfect- 
ing knowledge will reach that final generalization 
essential to absolute truth. No hostile navies will 
patrol the seas, no buccaneers menace commerce, and 
nations brought near by swift communication of 
tonnage and tongue will exchange their products, 
rendering famine impossible. Agriculture will grow 
harvests where now deadly miasms distill and desolat- 
ing pestilences breed. 

Religion and philosophy eclecticized by the infusion 
of social characteristics, will ultimate thought on 
moral and spiritual themes and problems ; censorious 
criticism will cease to carp at Christianity, faith be- 
come general and hope universal, while love will 
enswathe the world with the atmosphere of heaven. 
The writer knows that many, who read this optimism, 
will cry "rhapsody," "vain dreamer," if not "crazy 
loon;" but he is not taught of fears, nor senile to 
doubts, but he reverently reads the horoscope of 
revelation, and scans the indicators of progress with 
bounding heart and exulting hope. Isaiah and John 



332 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

are his teachers, and Christ is his Rabbi. His ears are 
open to the strains and visions of inspired seers, and 
his soul thrilled and thralled with Christliness. He 
heeds not the scorn of skepticism, nor the despair 
■of pessimism. " Brother, this vision is no fable. It 
is for an appointed time and will not tarry. It is 
nearer for every outworn lie, and for every trampled 
fraud, for each scattered truth-seed and each kindly 
speech and deed. Each of us may aid it in its coming. 
Children who fling seeds about in sport, youth in its 
prime, age in its maturity, manhood in its energy of 
enterprise, womanhood in her ministry of mercy — 
all may speed it onward. In a reverent mingling of 
faith and labor, it is ours to watch and work for it. 
Do not mourn the past ; it has given place to better 
times. Do no* dread the coming of the future ; it 
shall dawn in brighter and safer glory. Come, and 
upon the altar of faith be anointed as the Daniels of 
to-day, at once the prophet and the worker — the 
brow bright with the shining prophecy, the hands full 
of earnest of holy deeds."* 

"Thine, the needed truth to speak, 
Right the wronged, and raise the weak ; 
Thine to make earth's desert glad, 
In its Eden greenness clad. 
Thine to work as well as pray, 
Clearing thorny wrongs away, 
Plucking up the weeds of sin, 
Letting Heaven's warm sunshine in. 
Watching on the hills of Faith, 
Listening what the spirit saith, 
Catching gleams of temple-spires, 
Hearing notes from angel choirs. 
Like the Seer of Patmos gazing 
On the glory downward blazing, 
Till upon earth's grateful sod, 
Rests the city of our God." 



Dr. W. Morley Punshon. 



THE FREE SEAT CHURCH. 333 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

THE FREE SEAT CHURCH. 

God is no respecter of persons. Neither should his 
church be. ! ' The rich and the poor meet together : 
the Lord is the maker of them all." (Prov. xxii. 2.) 
Christ "ate with publicans and sinners." "The 
common people heard him gladly. " "The poor 
have the Gospel preached to them " and for them. 
He ' ' chose the weak things of the world to confound 
the mighty." Jesus penetrated through birth, and 
rank, and riches, and poverty, to the heart — the sim- 
ple man. One of his sublimest discourses was to a 
lone Samaritan woman at the well. He pardoned a 
poor harlot, and convicted of inward lust her Phari- 
saical accusers, and made the punitive stones drop 
from their nerveless grasp, while self-condemned they 
slunk from his presence. Jesus pardoned a penitent 
thief on the cross and assured him of companionship 
with Him in Paradise. If he was good enough for 
the kingdom of glory, he was good enough for the 
kingdom of grace. Christ taught that humility is the 
condition of exaltation. He who would be greatest 
in his kingdom above, must be willing to be least in 
his kingdom below. Every converted spul is entitled 
to a new date. The new birth makes a re-newed 
man. " His blood can make the foulest clean." 



334 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

In the house of worship there ought to be no dis- 
crimination of worshipers. All should ' ' meet upon 
the level and part upon the square." In the Lord's 
house all should be recognized as equal. Station in 
society should have no superior recognition in the 
church. Money should not be able to buy privileges. 
Mites and millions should be at par in the pews. The 
pew-renting system does- confer privileges. Men may 
own pews and be protected by law in the possession 
and ownership of a definite space, whether saint or 
sinner, present or absent. The holder of a purchased 
pew can lock the door and carry the key in his pocket 
while junketing over Europe, or sojourning at the 
sea-shore. It is possible for a number to do this, 
and thus practically close the church, as they do their 
residences, when at the resorts. Does this consist 
with the common Fatherhood of God, and the 
universal Brotherhood of Man? We have seen all 
the standing room occupied, while there were vacant 
seats in the pews of selfish renters. We have seen a 
shabbily dressed person, unnoticed by sexton or 
ushers, walk the whole length of an aisle without 
anyone offering the hospitality of a seat, and stand 
confused and abashed at its pulpit end. We have 
seen another follow, of lofty mien and dressed in 
costly attire, and the ushers were superciliously 
attentive, and pew-doors fairly flew open to welcome 
the "respectable " visitor. It is narrated that on one 
occasion a small figure, bent with the weight of years, 
in a dress of faded black — a woman — entered a 
4< fashionable " (God save the mark!) church, and 



THE FREE SEAT CHURCH. 335 

tottered down the aisle without an invitation to a 
seat; seeing which, the gifted pastor, Rev. Dr. 
Alexander, stopped the service he was conducting, 
walked down, and offering- his arm to the aged visitor, 
gently and gracefully conducted her to the pastor's 
pew, and when she was seated; returned, silently, to 
the pulpit. It turned out that the neglected visitor 
was the venerable widow of Alexander Hamilton. 
Had her identity been known, the proudest would 
have given her welcome. 

"Go, look in yon Church of the cloud-reaching spire, 
Which gives to the sun his same look of red fire, 
Where the arches and columns are gorgeous within, 
And the wallsseem as pure as a soul without sin ; 
Walk down the long aisles, see the rich and the great 
In the pomp and the pride of their worldly estate ; 
Walk down in your patches, and find if you can, 
Who opens a pew to anioneyless-man !" 

— Henry T. Stanton. 

We would fain believe such churches are few and 
far between, but who will say the satire of the poet 
is without warrant? And how does such a Church 
look under the lurid light of St James'epistle? 

" My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. For 
if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold 
ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a 
poor man in vile raiment ; And ye have respect to 
him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, 
Sit thou here in a good place ; and say to the poor, 
Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool; 
Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become 
judges of evil thoughts? Hearken, my beloved 
brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world 



336 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath 
promised to them that love him ? But ye have 
despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, 
and draw you before the judgment seats ? Do not 
they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye 
are called ? If ye fulfil the royal law according to 
the Scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, 
ye do well ; But if ye have respect to persons, ye com- 
mit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors. 
For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet 
offend in one point, he is guilty of all." (Jas. ii: 1-16.) 
There is nothing plainer in the Bible than this pro- 
hibition, and no sophistry can successfully gloss it. 
There are rich quarters in churches There are 
churches in which the poor are huddled together, 
where they are subject to draughts of air, and where 
it is difficult to hear. Money buys the best seats. 
There are churches in which the poor are not wanted, 
and the prices of pews are put up beyond their reach 
intentionally to exclude them. There are churches 
into which the poor do not go, because they know 
they are not wanted. There are churches dedicated 
to the carpenter's son, into which a mechanic or laborer 
never ventures. They need an extra lightning rod. 
We wonder at the long-suffering of God, forbearing 
the riving of them from the golden cross on the 
steeple to the marble corner-stone and sculptured 
portal. Thank God, they are not common. There 
ought not to be one such in all Christendom. If 
Jesus were to re-visit the earth, he would thrash out 
these lordly saints, as lie did the defilers of the 



THE FREE SEAT CHURCH. 337 

temple. We would like to see the exegete that could 
preach from the passage quoted from St. James, on 
the occasion of a pew-selling auction. 

We are happy to know that the grandest Cathedrals 
ever erected by the genius of an architect, and with 
the money of consecrated wealth, are as hospitably 
free as the city market , and that numbers of splendid 
churches and beautiful chapels are the gift of rich 
men who have remembered ' ' the pit from which they 
were digged," and the expression of gratitude to the 
Providence that has smiled them into prosperity and 
affluence. 

'•There are churches whose loftiest turrets and spire 
Have sprung from the depths of some poor boy's desire ; 
There are colleges and hospitals, founded by those 
Who knew, at the outset, stern poverty's woes ; 
But they labored undaunted, with head, heart and brain, 
And we know that such labor is never in vain. 
That man with his millions, when first he began, 
Was known upon .'Change as the moneyless man." 

—Florence Anderson Clark. 

The great Methodist Church, in its Discipline, 
wisely prescribes: "Let all our churches be 
built plain and decent, and with free seats wherever 
practicable." But pray, where are they ^practicable ? 

The question now rustling the air is, * ' How can the 
Church reach the masses?" Has it ever occurred to 
anyone that the pew system is promotive of the 
evangelization of the poor? 

The writer has known churches in which every pew 
was rented to the wealthy, the prices obeying the law 
of supply and demand, so that with no seats at his 
free disposal the pastor could not invite the poor, 



338 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

having no place in which to put them should they 
come. The rich flock together and thus by the with- 
drawal of the wealthy from the "down-town" 
churches to the "up-town, " the former are left with- 
out sufficient financial support to maintain themselves. 
The poor must take the preachers that the rich are 
not willing to have. The pastor of a free-seat church, 
no matter how great its congregations, can say: ' 'come, 
come early and get a good seat. " If he has pews to rent, 
the invitation to come seems like the solicitation of a 
landlord seeking tenants. If he has only inferior seats 
to rent, with what grace can he ask a poor man to at- 
tend his church ? If the difficulty be overcome, and 
"the poor man in vile raiment" should "come into 
the assembly, " the chances are that some purse-proud 
Pharisee will say, by his scornful looks, if not in ex- 
press terms, "Friend, how earnest thou in hither?" 
But says some one, "How, then, is the Church to 
be supported ? " Why, by the free-will offerings of 
the people. Each person should give as the Lord 
prospers, and do it systematically and cheerfully. The 
majority of the churches of our country are supported 
in this way. A large number of interested people 
will give more money, according to their ability, than 
will a few of ten times their means. When Rector 
Rainsford, of St. George's Parish, New York City, 
came to it, he turned it into a free-seat church, to be 
supported by the envelope weekly system, with the 
following results the first three years of the experi- 
ment: First year, 1883, #4,041 ; second year, 1884, 
$7,886; third year, 1885, #12,882. The writer had 



THE FREE SEAT CHURCH. 339 

a similar experience in changing a church from the 
pew-renting system, doubling the revenue and tripling 
the congregation. 

When it is systematically worked there is more 
money in the free-will offerings of the people. The 
pew system makes the rich pay the current costs, 
leaving less for them to give to the benevolences. 
The small payers slip, therefore, the financial net, the 
meshes of which are too large to catch small fry. The 
poor are neglected by the officers, and finally feel that 
their small contributions are not wanted or needed ; or 
what is worse, they get to feel that church services are 
their free right, and so never think of paying any- 
thing. Many, because never called on for church 
support, get to doubt whether they are regarded as 
members, and cease to feel interest in that in which 
they hold no stock. People who have religious 
interest enough to attend public worship, are gener- 
ally able to contribute ; and could be made regular 
supporters by the application of a systematic plan 
of calling on every member for money. 

The pride of some is offended by this neglect, who 
are unable to rent pews, and being unwilling to dead- 
beat their way, they drop away altogether, or become 
church tramps, losing all concern for any particular 
church. For the spiritual benefit attending giving, 
the very poorest, even those receiving alms, should 
be required to give something. We should give a 
wider reading to the text, "It is more blessed to give 
than receive." The poor should not be cheated of 
deed-blessing. Jesus, when he "sat over against the 



340 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

treasury," did not reprove the sacrificial mites of the 
poor widow that cast in all the living that she had, or 
rebuke the ostentatious rich who rattled their shekels 
into the money-box. Collection plates should be 
padded. A few coppers make a loud rat-a-tat when 
dashed into silver and hard-wood receivers. Then, 
some new converts are totally unacquainted with the 
plan of finance. While writing this chapter, the 
author met one of his members on a street car, who 
had recently joined, and she naively asked him when 
he would collect for the support of the church. He 
explained the plan and received a contribution of ten 
dollars. Rich men do not give too much, but they 
do wrong to foot the bills, because they would rather 
pay more largely than take the time and trouble, as 
officers, to collect small sums from the many. They 
should "consider the poor," and deny them not the 
privilege, pleasure and profit in giving of their pov- 
erty. A woe is pronounced on those that ' ' take away 
the right from the poor of My (the Lord's) people. " 
(Isa. x: 2.) Rich men are sought by churches, for 
"Wealth maketh many friends: but the poor is 
separated from his neighbor. " No separation on account 
of riches or rank should be tolerated in God's temple ; 
"Many will entreat the favor of the prince; and 
every man is a friend to him that giveth gifts. All the 
brethren of the poor do hate him : how much more do 
his friends go far from him." (Prov. xix: 6-y.) 
Wealth is not to be despised when it is the product 
of wisdom, sobriety, industry and frugality. But it 
should be what the word imparts — weed. The king- 



THE FREE SEAT CHURCH. 341 

dom of Christ is a commonwealth — a common weal. 
The early Christians held all things in common. The 
rich were God's trustees of the poor and ministered 
unto their necessities. Then, the "great man helped 
the poor man and the poor man loved the great." It 
is right for the rich to build beautiful, commodious, 
and convenient churches for the poor. The house of 
God to them should be as the gate of heaven. Give 
them brightness and beauty — stained glass windows, 
stuccoed ceilings and frescoed walls. Give them 
Apolloses ' 'mighty in the scriptures, " and Boanerges 
"sons of thunder," to preach to them the word of 
life and light and love. Delight the ears of the sons of 
men daily accustomed to the clangor of machinery, 
with organ chimes and choral melodies. Give them one 
place where the tokens of poverty — bare walls, carpet- 
less floors, musicless tenements — shall melt away, and 
the ravished eye and ear will wing the soul to mount 
up into a clime of splendor, whose warm and welcom- 
ing air shall be to them an earnest of the heavenly 
home. Go to the Church of God in plain attire, that 
the poor may not be shamed by the contrast of 
threadbare garments with shining silks and blazing 
jewelry. Make a spiritual feast, and call to the 
banquet-board the poor and make them feel that the 
banner floating over them is that of love. Make the 
poor in passing the portals of the temple feel that they 
are threading "the Gate Beautiful." Let zephyrs 
from Beulah land float in on the worshipers. See! 
how the theaters sparkle with splendor, and the 
saloons are bright with color. Take away the gloom 



342 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

from our places of worship, and woo and win to 
truth, beauty and goodness, by the inviting glories of 
God's temple. Let not the feet of the unwary be 
snared by the flowery traps of Satan. Make the harp 
of Zion like the lyre of Orpheus, which, with its 
sweeter music, hushed the seductive sirens into 
silence. Make "the hill of Zion yield a thousand 
sacred sweets before we reach the heavenly fields, or 
walk the golden streets." Think not to quarantine 
the poor in uninviting halls, as if poverty were a 
leprous contagion. Make the stately church a poem 
and a mission station. Fear no contagion from God's 
poor. Grace will disinfect the vilest. It is a mighty 
prophylactic. Let the theaters enjoy a monopoly of 
"the gallery" for the poor, and of "proscenium 
boxes" for the rich. God " raiseth up the poor out 
of the dust, and lifteth the needy out of the dung- 
hill ; that he may set him with the princes of His 
people." (Ps. cxiii: 7-8.) He who "is high above 
all nations, and His glory above the heavens, 
humbleth himself to behold the things that are in 
heaven, and in the earth." (Ps. cxiii : 4, 6.) So do 
thou, who art exalted, "condescend to men of low 
estate." Christ did. Emulate him. "I know that 
the Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and 
the rig/it of the poor. Surely the righteous shall give 
thanks unto Thy name : the upright shall dwell in 
Thy presence." (Ps. cxl : 12-13.) "Hear this, 
all ye people ; give ear, all ye inhabitants of the 
world: Both low and high, rich and poor, together. " 
(Ps.. xlix: 1-2.) 



THE FREE SEAT CHURCH. 343 

Beware of God's frown if you "turn aside the poor 
in the gate from their right. " (Amos v : 1 2. ) Be able 
to say when " God is sifting out the souls of men be- 
fore his judgment seat," as did Job when he made a 
catalogue of his good works: "If the men of my 
tabernacle said not, Oh that we had of his flesh ! we 
cannot be satisfied. The stranger did not lodge in 
the street: but I opened my doors to the traveller." 
(Job xxxi: 31-32.) 

If the Church intends to make a heroic effort to 
reach the non-church-going, it must, as a first step, 
make the churches as free as the Gospel it is set 
to preach. Could you induce a man of modesty to 
intrude himself on a banquet where the table was set 
with "covers," each for a particular guest? Could 
you send one invited to the kitchen ? Men will not 
freely flock to our popular churches, if on entering 
they are kept standing in the vestibules, waiting un- 
til the ushers can determine when the owners or 
renters are coming ? Nor can they comfortably occupy 
a seat while haunted with the thought that they are 
intruders on another man's preserve, and are liable to 
be invited out on the arrival of those who have pre- 
empted them. The author, while a pastor of one of the 
principal city churches, attended a wedding in another 
church; and, presently, the family owning the pew ar- 
rived, invited him out, and though a seat was unoc- 
pied the pew-door was closed, and he was left stand- 
ing abashed in the aisle. It goes without the saying 
that he beat a hasty retreat, and never darkened the 
doors of that inhospitable church with his unwelcome 



344 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

presence. He knows how one feels under such cir- 
cumstances from the iron that pierced his spirit. 

It is not claimed that there may not be a judicious 
reservation of seats for regular worshipers, for it is 
desirable that members of a family should sit to- 
gether; but a money consideration should not be 
taken for such a preemption, and social rank should 
have no place in a distribution of sittings. Habitual 
attendants may have assigned sittings in any part of 
the auditorium unselected at the time of their applica- 
tion, no money being exacted as a condition. If the 
ushers reserve such seats each Sunday until five minutes 
before the service begins, no exception should be 
taken by others casually present ; and such a system, 
rigidly observed, would contribute to punctuality. 
Under the renting system tardiness is encouraged, 
since the owners know that their seats will be reserved 
until they arrive, and frequently are, when they do 
not come at all. It is a painful privation for pastors 
to suffer, to see the most eligible pews vacant, at 
night, because of the distant residence of their 
wealthy owners. These, at least, should be at the 
disposal of the ushers, who should be careful to fill 
them with early comers, without regard to their social 
status. The best society is the society of the best 
people. Many of God's elect, who would, if our 
system of seating obtained in heaven, be occupying 
private boxes, reserved thrones, are crowded into the 
rear seats, and the preacher must speak over a 
vacancy, so that his message is frosted in this refriger- 
ator before it reaches the mass of the congregation. 



THE FREE SEAT CHURCH. 345 

Firing at long range is seldom effective. There was 
a touch of pathos as well as humor in a postscript to 
a letter written an officer, by Mr. Beecher, while in 
Europe, saying, "Give my love to the brethren in the 
front seats. " A quaint old divine, desiring to bring his 
congregation nearer the pulpit, added to his invita- 
tion the witty remark, ' ' if you want to have a good 
fire you must get the chunks together." A broad, 
unoccupied space, between the speaker and his 
audience, looks badly. It discounts pulpit discourse, 
by cutting the magnetic current between the preacher 
and his hearers. No lawyer would hazard his case by 
pleading at a distance from the jury, and behind a 
barricade, depriving him of the power of personal 
presence and forensic action. " The eyes of the mul- 
titude are more learned than their ears. " Are not the 
Catholics wiser in bringing the pulpit into the midst 
of the people ? The pew system is unscriptural, is 
repressive of church power and debilitating to finan- 
cial support, and should soon grow into " innocuous 
desuetude." 



846 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 



CHAPTER XIX. 
PRECIOUS PROMISES. 

Look to the promises. Moses had "respect unto 
the recompense of reward." Religion pays. God- 
liness is profitable unto the life that now is. 

Divine grace cannot be enjoyed where it is neg- 
lected, and temporal blessings are suspended on 
cheerful giving. Giving is investing. 

"Honor the Lord with thy substance, and with the 
first-fruits of all thine increase; so shall thy barns be 
filled with plenty." If farmers would do their duty, 
who knows but Providence would free their crops 
from insect infestations, and withhold destroying 
droughts? Merchants might be saved from disasters 
by fire and flood. We are weak of faith and afraid to 
trust our weight on God's promises, lest they should 
break beneath our feet. A man crawled on all : fours 
across the frozen Mississippi, and reached the shore 
rigid with cold, just in time to see a six-mule team, 
drawing a heavy load of pig-iron, trot over the 
natural bridge to the other shore. Covetousness 
will walk over the mouth of hell on a rotten plank, 
while baptized money fears the strength of Divine 
pledges. I doubt not many are wrestling with the 
wolf at the door, that might be feasting at the groan- 
ing board, because of a distrustful frugality. 



PRECIOUS PROMISES. 347 

"Bring ye tithes into the storehouse, and prove me 
now herewith, if I will not open you the windows of 
Heaven, and pour you out a blessing that there shall 
not be room enough to receive it." "Give, and it 
shall be given you ; good measure, pressed down, 
shaken together, and running over." 

Heart's ease will not grow where the love of money 
is rooted. This pre-occupation is to God's husbandry 
what crab-grass is to man's fields. "God is able to 
make all grace abound toward you, that ye always, 
having all sufficiency, may abound to every good 
work." It is the duty of a Christian to abound in 
this grace (liberality) also, as much as in faith. 

God does not require anything until he has given 
something. As often as a man lays out for God, he 
lays out for himself. If Christians would live more 
virtuous and more generous lives they would not need 
so much money. They pay heavy premiums to sin, 
death and Satan by every disobedience. Wealth can 
only be enjoyed at the end of duty. Wealth means 
weal, and the soul is only weal — well — when it is gen- 
erous. Let people start out in life on Gospel prin- 
ciples and hold on to them to the end, and they will 
never come to want. What is the threshold prin- 
ciple? "Seek first the Kingdom of God and His 
Righteousness, and all these (temporal) things shall 
be added unto you. " The Kingdom of God and His 
Righteousness means fear and love of God and regard 
for His creature man — sobriety, industry, frugality, 
courtesy, charity ; and when did these ever conspire 
and combine in a failing man ? ' 'Diligent in business, 



348 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

fervent in spirit, serving the Lord," are a trinity of 
graces that always succeed. 

Everybody and everything that succeed, are on the 
giving hand. Fortune not only helps those who help 
themselves, but those who help others. * 'Fortune 
favors the brave," and the brave are those who give 
themselves away. "Public-spirited men," men who 
are for the community, are the leaders and succeeders 
everywhere. Whoever heard of a liberal church- 
member pining for business. The lean souls are the 
miserly. "The liberal soul shall be made fat." If 
you want to be a living skeleton, be stingy. 

The Dead Sea receives a vast number of tributaries, 
but has no outlets. Nothing lives in its waters. The 
Nile overflows its banks and leaves a rich delta behind 
its retiring waters. The desert absorbs rains, but 
yields no refreshing fountains to its thirsty caravans, 
and returns no tribute to the clouds that watered its 
barren sands. Sahara is ever dry. Dead Sea 
men, Desert men, there are — for multitude. Oh, for 
Nile men ! Bread cast on overflowing waters brings 
forth fruit after many days. Bountiful sowing beside 
all waters makes rich reaping. Seed, watered with 
tears, is sown for a harvest of joy. 

The Christian thrives by his liberality. The mus- 
ter-roll is great and extended of those who have 
grown rich by giving. The late William E. Dodge, 
of New York, was one of the most liberal benefactors 
of the present generation, and his contributions to 
Christian benevolence amounted to hundreds of thous- 
ands of dollars. 



PRECIOUS PROMISES. 349 

Read Rev. \Vm. Arthur's story ef the "Successful 
Merchant," and see how God prospered systematic 
generosity. Read the life of the Lawrence Brothers, 
of Boston. There are living men, by the hundred, 
who are proving God by giving liberally of their 
gains. I know of one who says that whenever he gets 
in a strait, he trusts God by giving bountifully and 
praying and working hard, and that God always 
brings him out. Whatever does not put itself forth, 
dies, is a truism in nature, grace and finance. Cer- 
tainly a church grows rich by giving. Napoleon 
said, "The army that remains in its entrenchments 
is beaten." A church without field-work, without the 
aggressive spirit, will rot in its templed strongholds. 
Nothing keeps an army in such fighting trim as hunt- 
ing the enemy to conquer him. Nothing keeps the 
church so active at the home-centres as a campaign 
in foreign lands. ' 'The gravitation of true love is 
towards equal distribution. You cannot accumulate 
water in a heap except by freezing it. God blesses 
the church which goes in self-denying ministries to 
others. " — Evangelical Churchman, 

The churches that have been most active in send- 
ing missionaries abroad, are the churches that have 
most lived at home. 

That great Baptist, Andrew Fuller, "saved the 
church at Kettering from declension and extinction 
by enlisting its energies in the foreign field. While 
they worked for self the Lord did not work with them. 
Fifty years ago, thirty Baptist churches in Maryland 
declared themselves opposed to Missions, while two 



350 WEALTH AND WORKMEN. 

alone took a stand in favor of them. The two in- 
creased to thousands, while the anti-mission Churches 
diminished, until they now number only seven or eight 
persons. Thus the Lord of the vineyard condemns 
the unfaithful owner of the buried talent. Twenty- 
seven years after the establishment of the Sandwich 
Island Mission, it must have broken up and disbanded, 
had they not extended their sympathies and efforts to 
embrace others more destitute." Dr. Anderson, in 
a lecture on "The Development of . Modern Mis- 
sions, " says, "It is impossible for Mission Churches 
to reach their highest and truest prosperity without 
the aid of what is to them a Foreign Mission. " And 
it is equally true of our home churches, that their 
only salvation from effeminacy and decay lies in the 
hearty espousal of the cause of missions. Confined 
within the narrow circle of home, sympathies grow 
weak, energies slacken, love loses its strongest stimu- 
lant — unselfish devotion, and faith lacks the vindica- 
tion and confirmation which crown its conquests 
over barbarism. As the Chinese woman's foot, 
cramped and confined, renders weak and nerveless 
her whole physical nature, so the dwarfing and narrow- 
ing of Christian sympathy and charity enervate the 
whole character. 

The promise is, "Ask, and I shall give thee the 
heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts 
of the earth for thy possession. " Has not God been 
answering hard-cash prayers by enriching the nations 
with the fruits of missionary toil in heathen lands? 



PRECIOUS PROMISES. 351 

Christian nations dominate the globe. Their civ- 
ilization is taking the world. Already heathendom 
is dependent upon or ally to the Christian powers. 

The grand work of Missions must be founded on 
and built upon the idea of God's power and promise 
to bless the work and the workers. 

In respect to giving, experience will prove that, 
as in everything else, the promises of God in Christ 
Jesus to bless the cheerful and liberal giver, "in him 
are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God 
by us." (II Cor. i : 20.) 

Here are the two abiding principles founded on 
the precepts and promises of God : 

1. Temporal, spiritual and eternal prosperity for 
the individual is founded on a generous use of ability 
in promoting the glory of God by advancing his cause. 

2. That church growth and power depend upon 
liberality, extension and aggressiveness. Conformity 
to these brings blessings. Neglect of them, curses. 
It is bliss or bale. 

This much is sure from God's word : 

1. The way to prosperity for the individual soul is 
to be generous in the doing of good. 

2. The way for churches to grow is to be industrious 
in promoting Christianity abroad. 

3. The Christian nations get rich reward for all they 
do for the civilization and Christianization of heathen 
people. 

THE END. 










PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township. PA 16066 
(724)779-2111 







*H3 




* M 



+■? " all ^ 







if 




&j^; 



